


Second Encounters

by ChillinglikeaVillian1997_COEY



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Caroline Forbes is an Original, F/M, Klaroline, Klaus Caroline fluff, Parent Caroline Forbes, Parent Klaus Mikaelson, Parenthood, Rating May Change, Stefan is dead, happy endings, how the series should have ended
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2019-07-17 17:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16100693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillinglikeaVillian1997_COEY/pseuds/ChillinglikeaVillian1997_COEY
Summary: When Klaus and his siblings are forced out of New Orleans they flee to the only other home they have ever known, Mystic Falls. Klaus enrolls his daughter at Caroline's new school for supernatural children and the two catch up on what the other has missed, bond over their strange parental situations, and have a chance to better understand each other now that they have both grown up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started this story in 2017 on FanFiction, but I never use the site anymore like every so I'm posting everything that's done here and concluding the completion of my other major Klaroline FanFic I will start updating again. Check out my other Klaroline story Away with the Wolves if you want a grand and crazy Klaroline adventure.

Caroline was beyond frustrated with herself. After all these years how could he still have this annoying power over her? Every time he was near, she remembered all too well, she had straightened her already perfect posture so as to stand taller. She annunciated her words more for emphasis. Her brow was always more concentrated. It was as if she were ready to battle him for who was the better human being, or better vampire. It was impossible not to get worked up at the thought of seeing him again. He was a father now, Caroline a mother of two beautiful girls. She had heard through some of her connections that he had lost a woman he had cared for, maybe even loved. Caroline had been slightly jealous at the thought of him and another, but she had had Stephan at the time. And when she heard of his loss, her heart was with him and she grieved for the woman and the place she had held in his heart. But now here they both were, missing their other halves, being the only vampire parents in the world, and dreading (at least on Caroline's end) the face to face meeting that had been put off for some time.

Caroline buttoned the last button on her white lace blouse. She looked beautiful and she knew it, but her anxiety of seeing Klaus betrayed her stunning appearance by shining in her eyes, deep blue with flecks of panic. She adjusted her daylight ring in frustration and turned away from her mirror, just in time for her daughters to run into her room.

"Mommy!" They cried out, not quite in unison.

"Babies!" She hugged them both, picking up the two seven-year-olds with ease.

"Is your friend here today?" asked Josie.

"Can we meet your friend mommy?" Lizzie asked pulling slightly on Caroline's blonde curls.

"No I think today mommy is going to just spend some time with her friend, but you know what?" Caroline carried them into the deck of their small house on the Salvatore property. "Mommy's friend has a beautiful, smart, gifted daughter, just like you two and I think you will be very good friends at school." She set her girls down on the deck.

Lizzie took her mother's hand as Josie walked ahead of them to the railing overlooking the garden.

"Can she do this?" Josie asked as she raised her right hand and made the cherry blossom tree in front of them bloom before their eyes.

"I don't know yet, baby, but that's why she's coming to school here. And I need you two to promise to help her feel safe and happy here." Caroline was on her knees now looking adoringly at her daughters. "Can you do that for me?"

The girls nodded and ran back inside the house at the sound of Alaric calling out that the waffles were done.

The engine to the private jet he had compelled for himself, his daughter, and his daughter's mother had finally become unnoticeable white noise. Hope lay asleep across her seat holding her mother's hand. Though this sight brought him joy at the peacefulness of her face and the easiness of her slumber, he couldn't shake the loud anxiety ridden thoughts from his head that told him he shouldn't be on his way back to Mystic Falls. Though he loved it there, he would miss New Orleans and though he would miss New Orleans he had missed Caroline more. He had missed her spirit and her argumentative stigma towards him. He had missed her smile, especially the few she had granted for him. He missed her eyes and the way he could read everything she was thinking, until she was thinking about him.

When he had heard she was a mother a part of him felt a joy for her, but also a loss for what they might have had knowing she would never leave her children for him, but when he realized she was with Stephan he felt only anger and frustration. Once again she had forgiven a monster for all his crimes and gave him love when he had harmed her spirit and once again this man was not him. After hearing of Stephan's death he had resolved to go to see her when Hope was older, but soon after he heard of the school and then Alaric had made an offer to him that at the time fed into his fear of not seeing Hope grow up. But when fate had been as unkind to his family as to banish them from New Orleans and from each other for some time he was reminded of the offer and looked on it now with softer eyes and a more grateful temperament.

Klaus worried about what state he would find Caroline in. Perhaps she was indifferent to him now after all these years, or maybe she was so broken from her loss of Stephan that she could never move on or his worst fear. That she would remain to see him as a monster as she did so long ago and that his daughter would see what someone as good and pure as Caroline really thought of him.

Hope stirred and looked at her father, eyes bright and wide open.

"What's wrong daddy." He looked down at his littlest wolf. "I can feel you're sad."

"Daddy is just nervous about seeing his old friend."

"Why? She's your friend, isn't she? Friends love you no matter how long you're apart." He heard his daughter relay a similar speech he had received from his sister on the family after disappearing with some Italian man in the Caribbean for a year. She had told him it did not matter how long they were apart that they were family always and forever and that no matter how much time passed nothing would change that. Hope had been in the room for that discussion and Klaus laughed slightly at his daughter's quotations from her aunt.

"Yes, my dear, but this is a very important friend to daddy. That's why I'm so nervous."

"Mommy said Miss Caroline is your special friend from the past."

Klaus eyed his daughter and then glared slightly at the unconscious Haylee.

"Yes, Miss Caroline is very special indeed."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting Caroline years later.

Caroline had had time. Time to heal. Time to think. Time to grieve. And most of all time to regret. Her and Stephan had had so little time together. They had fought, avoided, and gotten lost. All of which was necessary for them to finally have what they had always wanted. And now she missed him like crazy. With time it had gotten easier though. Caroline did what she did best, stayed busy. Opening the school at the Salvatore boarding house was a great outlet for her. When Damon had given it to her and Rick to use as a school she wasn't sure if it was because he couldn't own the property sanely now that Stephan was gone or because he knew she might lose it without a project. It had been Ric's idea to build her and their little family a house on the property. They had their own little place to raise their girls close to the school and close to Caroline's hometown. She was still able to visit her mother's bench in the town square regularly and visit the Salvatore crypt whenever she just needed to be with Stephan. But with enrollment skyrocketing at the school and her girls becoming more of a handful with age she and Ric were kept busy enough for her to not need Stephan like she used to. After all, Caroline had been used to not needing anyone. Before Stephan and she were together she had been on her own more times than not and had found all the perks of being single.

But now that Klaus was on his way she suddenly felt the anxiety she used to get before a first date. It outraged Caroline that she felt this way. She couldn't think of any reason for her to act like girlish human Caroline again. She was strong now, amazingly confident, and a single supernatural mother. But the day Haylee had called Ric begging for refuge at their school she had begun to slowly roll back into her high strung self. The thought of seeing Haylee again brought up resentment form the past, but when she remembered that Haylee and she were in the same boat as far as motherhood went Caroline had concluded it wouldn't hurt to have someone around who got it. A day later Ric mentioned, after putting the girls to bed, that Klaus would be accompanying them. He asked if she would be okay with that.

"Okay? Why wouldn't I be? Klaus is Klaus and I'm-"

"Caroline Forbes." He interrupted her raising his eyebrows.

"I was going to say I'm a mom. No man, or hybrid for that matter, could matter to me right now." And as she said this she had been convinced. But after Ric had gone to his upstairs apartment in the house and Caroline to bed down the hall from the girls she thought more on what she had just learned.

Klaus always held a fascination with her. It wasn't something she had ever opened up to Elena or Bonnie about and all Ric knew was that they had slept together once. But no one knew what had gone through her head the night he bit her and let her slowly die. No one knew how sweetly he had kissed her cheek after graduation, or how a secret part of her just wanted to see him that day. She never talked about the sadness that followed her relief when he left Mystic Falls for New Orleans. And all she could think about that night as she tried to sleep was the night that had started it all. Her birthday.

She had been filled with so much hate for him when he had sent Tyler to bite her, and then he had the nerve to call her collateral damage. But as he sat on her bed trying to convince her that being a vampire opened so many doors for her, and of course he had been right, she could see in the reflection that he had been waiting for consent. He had taken her consent when he ordered Tyler to kill her and now it was all he desired to save her life. Though the logic was deeply flawed and horrendously backward there was a deep romantic feature in it that she had always held dear to her and she would hide this till her last day as an immortal.

Klaus had fallen asleep on the plane shortly after Hope had lulled back to sleep. He dreamt of his daughter. They were in Monet's backyard painting. Hopes flower depictions were so far beyond other children's of her age. He felt pride at his daughter's work and superiority. Hope had looked out to the pond before them squinting.

"Who is that?" She asked in wonder.

Klaus turned his head to see a beautiful woman beaming in white light walking across the water towards them. Klaus instinctively bared his fangs in defense of his daughter, but Hope placed her small hand in his.

"She's not here for me," Hope said smiling up at her father.

As the woman neared he saw her face at last. He would recognize it anywhere. Blonde hair and an angels face. So pure and full of light.

It was Camille.

"Klaus." She smiled as she stood on the water's edge not daring to step on land. "I loved you, you know that right?"

"Camille." Klaus choked out a single tear went down his face. His heart ached with love and loneliness.

"But there's another chance for you." Camille looked at him with love and hope in her eyes.

Klaus looked down at his daughter smiling. His daughter. His redemption. His second chance.

"No Klaus." Camille almost whispered. "There is another."

Klaus awoke to the sound of the pilot requesting him and his family to put on their seatbelts.

Hope lay sleeping as Haylee strapped her in and looked at Klaus.

"Bad dream?"

He looked at her confused.

"You were moving around a lot…" She paused looking him up and down. "Caroline?"

"Ah," Klaus said as he strapped himself in. "You mean my special friend."

Klaus gave her a sarcastic expecting look. Haylee smiled at him.

"Okay…" She sighed stifling a laugh. "Hope was asking a lot of questions. I swear she can feel when I'm lying."

"Well, that wouldn't surprise me. Our daughter is a cross between a genius and the most powerful witch."

"I would keep those kinds of comments on the DL, Klaus. We want our daughter to make friends here not have fearful subjects on the playground."

"I see no problems with the latter." Klaus teased.

"Caroline probably won't want her kids worshiping the ground Hope walks on."

Haylee looked at him eyes wide ready to study his reaction in the most clinical way possible. Klaus was a great father and was turning out to be a more than decent co-parent. Their relationship had changed since the first meeting, she considered Klaus, not the only family now but a friend. Haylee remembered how happy he seemed when he was with Caroline or when he would call her just to leave a message. She remembered how much he had grown as a person after his last visit to Mystic Falls to see her. And when he and Cami seemed to have developed something serious she couldn't help, but see the same strengths and appeal as Caroline. Haylee even caught herself from time to time wondering why he would be with Cami if he could be with Caroline, and then she heard of Caroline's pregnancy. She had a new found respect and relation to this girl she had hated so much. Haylee had at least some say in her pregnancy. Caroline had her children forced on her and later had no natural right to them. Haylee understood Caroline's position as a mother too. Haylee was too prideful to admit it, but she looked forward to having another woman to relate to on supernatural parenting.

"Why are you so obsessed with Caroline all of a sudden?" Klaus asked. "I don't believe you two have been pen pals these last years have you?"

With this, the plane began to descend to their new home.

Caroline

After breakfast Caroline had Ric walk the girls to school while she stayed behind. Her meeting with Haylee, Klaus, and Alaric wasn't until noon so she had a few hours to collect her thoughts beforehand.

She went through her paperwork she had brought home the night before. Most of it was on Hope and her magic. Caroline had read that she had been possessed by something called The Hallow and after expelling it from her body they had placed pieces of it in The Originals. They had found a way to expel and destroy it from Klaus and Rebekah, but they had several witches searching for a long lost Elijah and a resurrected Kol who was in hiding.

As Caroline sat at her desk she read on about two other new students, a twelve-year-old witch from France who spoke very little English and a six-year-old warlock whose parents were killed in a sacrifice by his own coven. After learning and memorizing the case of each student she poured herself a cup of coffee and downed a blood bag before walking to the school.

When Caroline walked into the entrance of what was once Stephan and Damon's home she felt a sense of pride for all her hard work. The curriculum had been designed by her and Bonnie with the console from other peaceful witches. The old Salvatore furniture had been donated and in place of the liquor cabinets and wine cellars, there were shelves upon shelves of grimoires. Most of the money Klaus had donated was spent on renovations. There were more windows now and walls between boarding house rooms were knocked down to make room for classrooms and magic practice rooms.

Elena had teased her at the idea of the school when it was just a dream. She had called her and Ric McGonagall and Dumbledore for weeks until it was officially happening. And now that Elena and Damon had a child of their own as of last year she had even more respect for her friend's project. Bonnie though traveling the world made time to stop by and give a guest lecture once a year to see her friends. Other than that and Christmas Caroline did not see them much. She had missed having girlfriends. She missed the support and the love between friends. Now the most support she got was from Ric and Jeremy, their head of security. One time they walked in on her crying on Stephan's birthday while hanging figure paintings of butterflies in the hall. She thought Jeremy might run and Ric would faint. She loved Ric and he loved her but he had only just started tentatively dating a year ago and she knew if she relied on him too much he wouldn't date and even if he did the women he was with wouldn't like it. She had decided for her family that it was better this way.

Caroline looked at the clock in her office. Klaus and his family would be here in a half hour. She let out a large breath hoping it would calm her anxieties. It didn't.

The door swung open and she leaped to her feet, eyes wide in fear. Ric walked in and shut the door behind him. He looked her up and down frowning with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah! I'm great." Caroline said a little too forcefully.

"Care, look. If you need me to do this meeting alone I can. I get it if it's too soon to see him."

"Too soon? Too soon for what? To see the invincible egotistical evil hybrid that was obsessed with me ten years ago? I'm seriously fine."

"No… Too soon for you to see the only other man you had a real connection with besides Stephan."

Caroline was shocked beyond reproach. How the hell did he know? Alaric was a very smart man, but he was most definitely not an aware man. He didn't notice things. He didn't absorb the little things between people as he passed them by.

"Damon is my best friend." He explained.

Sometimes Caroline could still feel a little hatred for her brother-in-law.

"I'm fine Ric. Is this surreal? Yes. Is it going to be an adjustment? Yes. But I can tell you right now without a doubt that I…" She breathed deeply to slow her words per minute down. "am fine."

"Okay." Ric shrugged it off reluctantly. He stood behind her desk as she took a seat and they began to go over the living arrangements for Hope. They had a room selected for her and a meal plan chosen. All that was left to decide was what level of classes she would be placed in. She would be tested while Caroline and Alaric showed Haylee and Klaus around the campus.

As Ric and Caroline discussed what to do about one of their instructors of healing spells and blessings being gone on maternity leave soon Caroline heard in the distance with her vamp hearing a voice that she would be able to pick out anywhere.

The door opened and in walked a very different looking Klaus.

Klaus was more than impressed with the changes made to the Salvatore in. It had the distinct good taste of Caroline. He was a little more than disappointed to see the state of security, but it was of no matter Hope would be living with her parents. She would be safer and happier with them.

Hope was very excited when the secretary asked her if she was ready to show a teacher how special she was. As Hope was escorted away by the secretary she seemed much more excited than Klaus had ever seen her. It made his heart beat strongly with the happiness of a father who had found the perfect place for his little girl.

Haylee and Klaus were led by a scrawny man who claimed to be Caroline's assistant. He led them down the hall on the first floor to a door with a stained glass oval window in the front. The design was of a sunflower amidst different shades of green in the background.

"Beautiful," Klaus whispered low enough to only vamp hearing abilities.

Haylee smiled at his entranced state and turned the doorknob for him opening up Caroline's office.

There he stood letting his eyes take her in, never wanting to look away again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad so many of you like what you're are reading. Don't be afraid to leave a review I would love to hear what you think, good or bad. I hope you enjoy this chapter; I had a lot of fun writing it. Klaus and Caroline had one of the most interesting dynamics on the show I am hoping I am capturing it right. Let me know what you hope to see happen down the road for them either in this story or next season in The Originals!

He looked different now. His hair was longer and more noticeably curly, but that wasn't it. He wore different clothes; either his taste had improved or Rebekah was finally doing his shopping. But what Caroline saw on the outside was not the only thing that had changed. She could already feel drawn to whatever it was, more than ever before. His eyes seemed to look at her with the same familiar depth that made her tingle, but they looked more focused, more attentive. He moved differently, more tentatively. She noticed it as the same gentility she had to acquire after having the girls. Suddenly being the strongest creature in the room was a curse when caring for the most delicate. The difference was not his body or his appearance; it was the very core of the Klaus she once knew. He had changed, warped into whatever he was now before her. Caroline realized she was not on the old terrain she had known, the terrain she had learned to flirt with and banter with. The new territory that stood before her was frightening beyond anything Klaus had thrown at her before. He seemed almost genuine.

"Klaus, Haylee. Welcome." Caroline heard Alaric speak behind her.

"Um- please take a seat." Caroline forced out.

Haylee walked around from behind Klaus and took one of the two seats facing Caroline's desk. Klaus followed her example, but made no break or waver from his gaze that had immediately fallen on Caroline.

Caroline cleared her thought and began to ask for specifics about what they were wanting Hope to get out of her experience at the school.

Haylee was the first to speak.

"I just want her to have some normalcy, friends, homework, bad teachers…" Haylee paused and looked at Caroline. "And, good ones too."

Caroline would have been shocked by this sneaky compliment were she not distracted by avoiding Klaus's eyes.

Alaric spoke next.

"Yes well, we want you two to know that your daughter's well-being is our number one priority here. If you don't mind we'll show you around the campus while Hope is showing her skills to our level placement team. You both can get to know some of the teachers and see how our curriculum works here." Alaric's eyes shot from Klaus to Caroline worried. He then looked at Haylee hoping she would follow his lead on the route to normalcy.

"Yes of course." Haylee stood and Klaus and Caroline followed her movement.

Alaric led the way out the door, but just as he and Haylee were in the hall, the office door was slammed shut and locked. Alaric banged on the door angrily.

"Klaus! Let her out of there now!" Alaric screamed and pounded on the door, his blood boiling with fear for Caroline. Alaric agreed to this arrangement for Hope's sake, but he in no way trusted Klaus.

"Haylee, help me out here! Get this door open!" Alaric began to ram himself against the door, but it was no use, everything at the old boarding house was reinforced to keep supernatural strength from breaking it down.

"I'm sorry, Ric. But I think he just needs to talk to her. She'll be fine." Alaric turned to her outraged.

"Haylee if you don't- I swear to God- I-" Alaric stuttered with rage and horror.

"Klaus wouldn't hurt her before Hope…" Haylee stepped closer to Alaric. "He's not going to hurt her now."

Klaus had moved so fast he wasn't sure what he had been doing until the door locked and Alaric's pathetic attempts at breaking down the door were heard.

"What the hell Klaus!" Caroline tried to push him out of the way, but only flinched away when he reached for her face.

"Why don't you look at me?" He asked sounding more afraid than he had meant to.

"Let me out." Caroline still avoided his eyes. "Ric thinks you're killing me."

"Caroline."

There was something about the way he said her name … pleading … desperate. She looked into his eyes and it was here she saw the change … his soul. She could see it. She could see his humanity. The one thing she had convinced herself she had hallucinated. The thing she had avoided so fully out of fear. She was reminded of what she had admitted to him when dying on Elena's couch. The things she had caught herself wishing for. The thing she had admitted to in the woods the day Katherine was supposed to die.

"You've changed." Caroline barely whispered it.

"I have." He said. "Though not entirely, I do suppose I am still the darkness you were once afraid of. Perhaps you still are."

"How?" Caroline knew this was the stupidest thing she could have said. Part of her wanted to jump for joy, another wanted to run. But the biggest most annoying part of her wanted to kiss him.

"Well long story short, I have a daughter now." He smiled and looked down. "I guess you could say she was my redemption."

Elijah's words echoed in his head.

"Yeah, and I have two little girls, Klaus," Caroline said snapping to her better judgment. "And those girls father is out in the hall right now freaking out!"

Klaus looked at Caroline embarrassed. He had only been with her for five minutes and he had already gone back to his old ways; isolating her, half taunting half flirting, and still attempting to appeal to her more accepting and lenient judgment.

He still stood rock solid between her and the door though, unwilling and possibly incapable of letting her leave.

Caroline paced back and forth while his eyes stared glazed with self-disappointment.

"Okay, listen, Klaus. We are both in different places now in our lives. We are both parents! We can't be doing this thing-" Caroline caught his eye but looked away instantly attempting to calm herself down. Damn-it if the chemistry was still there, she was a mom now and no man, supernatural or not, would distract her from that job. Whatever that thing was that we don't do anymore! She was spiraling now, losing focus on what she was trying to convey. Her panic and rushed reaction to stomp of her attraction to him was causing her to talk more hyper and angry than she meant.

She took a deep breath and turned to face him. His eyes. His lips. His body. When did Klaus get hotter?

"We are parents first. I don't need or want any distractions from you or from anyone else. Okay?" Caroline looked at him as if he were a dog she had just told to sit.

"I understand." Klaus was so far from understanding that he could barely collect his thoughts to form his statement. Had she just admitted to liking him, but due to being a parent, he had no chance to prevail? Or had she just told him that she still considered him to be the monster he feared he was inside?

"Okay then," Caroline smiled relieved on the exterior, disappointed on the interior. "Friends"? she held out her hand which Klaus took. Friends, he smirked and kissed her hand. Caroline rolled her eyes as he turned to unlock her office door. Leaving Klaus behind her she was unable to see his unfazed smirk disappear into a saddened gaze, first at her walking away and then down to the floor defeated.

Alaric could finally breathe when he saw Caroline walk out to the garden he and Haylee had walked to after he almost knocked himself out against Caroline's door. Haylee had convinced him Caroline could handle herself, but she hadn't convinced him Klaus meant no harm. He could see it the moment Klaus walked into Caroline's office. He hadn't broken eye contact. It reminded him of the way Damon used to stare down Elena, but more ominous… more threatening.

Alaric remembered before he and Caroline had been engaged, a story Caroline had told him. Well not really a story, more of a vague considerate retelling of how she had come to sleep with Klaus. He could tell there was something she wasn't over, but he had chalked it up to the fact that she was pregnant with his twins and going through a beak up with Stephan. Later when Stephan was gone he recalled Damon making a drunken comment to him about Caroline that rung with the ugly truth.

"It's too bad Ric- Caroline, our very own little ray of sunshine…will never move on from this. Well, that is providing her big-bad-hybrid doesn't come a-knock 'in."

Ric had asked him about it a year later. He had been asking not out of fear of Klaus coming to collect Caroline, but because he wondered if she could ever move on to perhaps love him. Damon didn't remember the comment though.

"You expect me to remember something I said to you drunk a year ago at my bothers funeral?" Ric had laughed at his own disappointment and stupidity.

"But," Damon had said. "If I did say it I stand by it, I always did have a sixth sense for blondie, and I do flatter myself to be a master in the art of all things baby bearing original hybrid and I stand by my drunken assessment."

"The assessment you gave when you were drunk and grieving?" Ric had stared at him in disbelief.

"Precisely."

Though a disappointing conversation, it had not been a fear causing one. Until Haylee had called him reporting Klaus and Rebekah had been helped and would now be accompanying Haylee and Hope to Mystic Falls. Ric was suddenly faced with a fear he never knew he had and a foe he had had a standing truce with for nearly ten years. He never thought a fictional connection between two people could threaten him so much.

He decided to tell Caroline about Klaus coming, not Rebekah, to see her reaction to just him coming back. She had reacted normally and without feeling. But the meeting in the office later had lit a fire to his fear. He was over Caroline now, but he had his family to consider. Caroline and Klaus together or even overly present in each other's lives would affect his children. He had his family to fear for.


	4. Chapter 4

After Alaric and Caroline had finished the official tour, the same one Klaus had disappeared from the moment Caroline was in sight, Haylee received a call from Rebekah.

"No time to chat, Marcel and I are boarding our plane." Rebekah's accent made her sound more snobbish than most of her siblings, or maybe she was just snobbish.

"Um- You called me." Haylee started in the direction of the playground full of 5-7-year-olds.

"Duh- You think I don't know that? Anyways I'm just letting you know we will be there by lunch tomorrow and I expect to see my niece at the airport." Rebekah sounded less spoiled as she said this.

Haylee may not be very close to her daughter's aunt, but she was family and Haylee loved to see Rebekah fawn over and adore her daughter. It was like she had a chance to see the human Rebekah that was lost so many years ago to their psycho mother.

"Yeah, of course." Haylee smiled at the thought of Hopes excitement to see Rebekah for the first time in years.

"Okay- give her a kiss for me, byeee." CLICK.

Rebekah was gone.

Haylee rolled he eyes, still smiling. She turned to see Caroline approaching her from across the endless lawn leading up to the school. Haylee put her hands in her jean pockets and approached her. Caroline looked beautiful, it used to make her angry, jealous even, all those years ago. Now all she could do was somewhat reluctantly admire and wonder slightly at what had corresponded between her and Klaus behind that closed door.

She had only heard very little between calming Ric down and the sound of him slamming himself against the door. Once she had him believing Klaus meant no harm to Caroline she had led him outside, unfortunately also out of earshot. During the tour, things were as awkward as to be expected when you child's headmistress was an ex-hookup for your child's father and he had not ten minutes ago locked her in her own office with him, against her will, in an insane attempt to win her back.

"Caroline. Hey-" She hesitated. "Or is it Mrs. Salvator…"

Caroline smiled slightly pained by the mention of Stefan.

"Technically it is Mrs. Salvatore-Forbes, but Caroline is just fine."

They stood there for a moment in awkward silence.

"I'm sorry about Klaus. You know how he gets…kinda' crazy when he is experiencing any emotion."

To Haylee's relief, Caroline laughed at this genuinely.

"I wish I could say I was used to it, but- actually I'm glad I'm not."

Both she and Haylee laughed at this. There was a strange feeling of nostalgia for Caroline. She remembered what it was like to laugh in unison with Elena and Bonnie. It felt good to have that again, even if it was Haylee.

"Um- I came out to see if you had any questions concerning Hope or the school before we go to pick her up from her assessment."

"No, no questions." Then Haylee remembered that Klaus had missed the part of the tour where she had been shown Hopes future dorm. She panicked shortly over having this discussion with him. "So do all the children have to stay on the grounds?"

"Well yes, most of our students come from all different parts of the world. They have nowhere else to stay."

"So even in Hopes case…"

"It's highly encouraged, but I'm sure we can figure something out so long as you two are staying close."

"Well, it's not just the two of us." Haylee was beginning to wonder if Caroline knew that the whole family and their plus ones were not far away.

"Sorry." Caroline shook her head with her eyes closed as if it would help her erase the moment. "I mean I know Klaus would be with you I don't know why I said two."

"Caroline… how much did Ric tell you about who was coming to Mystic Falls?"

"What do you mean? Who's coming?"

....

 

"And when were you planning on telling me that the entire original clan would be our neighbors?" Caroline was fuming as she strode into Ric's office. If the room wasn't upstairs overlooking a group of 13-year-olds playing soccer she could have thrown him out the window.

"I saw the way you reacted to Klaus coming; I thought I would just ease you into the rest of his family." Alaric walked behind his desk as if it would afford him some protection.

"And when were you planning on 'easing me into it.'" Caroline used air quotes only making her seem less threatening. "When Rebekah, the original bitch herself, walked onto the grounds the next day for a lunch break with her niece?"

"No, I just thought you should have some time to process. Klaus has been here one day and he is already driving you crazy, I can see it. I wanted you to have time, to be okay. You haven't seen him since…" He stopped himself. He was going to say she hadn't seen him since Stefan was alive, but he could see it had only brought her pain by bringing it up.

They both stood in awkward silence.

"Ric, you just need to tell me these things okay. Watch. Learn by example." She stood taller to prove her point. "I told Haylee we could negotiate Hope's schedule here so she can live at home with her family."

"You did what?" Alaric was taken aback by this. It wasn't a bad thing, but she had gone behind his back and made a promise on his behalf.

"Well, at least I told you mine!" Caroline yelled and stormed out.

As she walked she began to become more outraged and embarrassed. Alaric could already see the effect of having Klaus so near to their family. The whole thing was making her crazy. Yes, Caroline had always wondered what Klaus was doing with his life, what it would be like to see him again, kiss him again. She sometimes fantasized about sleeping with him, not the sex but what came after. What was it like to just be held by him? What was it like to dream in his bed? How would it feel to wake up beside him? But then, of course, Caroline had always been able to hide these deep fantasies and inquiries easily.

Now it was a whole new game though. She had to co-exist with him. She had to reel in her attraction towards him. She had to ignore the new genuine softness of his action. She had to ignore anything that made her believe he had changed for the better.

Still walking quickly out of anger Caroline sprinted into vamp speed only to be stopped by Jackie, one of the child placement team members holding hands with Hope. Caroline had only seen Hope from afar and in an old photo from when she was her girls' age. Now she was eleven and Caroline could see the way she resembled her parents. She had Klaus's intense and purposeful eyes with Haylee's cute sharp nose.

"Jackie…" Caroline paused and looked down at Hope. She crouched to be in level eye with the beautiful girl.

"Hi, my name is Caroline, I'm friends with you daddy. I'll be your headmistress here." Caroline smiled brightly at the girl impressed by the eleven-year old's composer. Hope smiled at Caroline like she knew something her headmistress didn't. Hope let go of Jackie's hand to stroke one of Caroline's curls.

"My daddy didn't tell me you were this beautiful." She smiled as if she were seeing an angel for the first time.

"You are very sweet." Caroline reached out and held the hand that was not preoccupied with her curls. "Would you like to go find your mom and daddy now?"

Hope nodded and Caroline stood.

"I'll take her from here Jackie thank you." Caroline smiled and began to walk with Hope hand in hand to the back lawn where Haylee awaited her patiently.

 

Klaus approached Haylee with embarrassed apprehension, hands clasped behind his back and his lips sucked together slightly.

"Ah he lives, no need to show up to your daughter's school tour after getting shot down by your ex-whatever." Haylee's jab hurt more than Klaus could bear, but he remained calm.

"I supposed I was a bit brash with shutting the door the way I did." Klaus poked fun at himself.

"Yeah, something tells me Caroline's not a 'kidnap me' kind of girl." Haylee smiled at him now sympathetically. "You okay?"

Klaus looked out to the emptiness of the grounds towards the school.

"Life goes on, even for an original vampire."

Klaus thought back on his encounter with Caroline. He could do it over so much better, he knew he could, but she was right. He had Hope to consider and she her own two girls. He would have to leave her and his feelings are until it would cause no crossfire on their families. And even so, hadn't Caroline looked disgusted by him? She could not even meet his eye for the longest time and when she finally did she wouldn't stop telling him to leave her and her girls alone.

As Klaus accepted his own temporary defeat he saw her. His daughter. She was holding hands with Caroline walking from the school. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. Caroline was laughing and she looked so lovely. Hope was grinning and looking up at her or maybe up to her? He had never seen her look at him or Haylee that way, maybe once or twice over the years at Freya when she was showing her a spell or two, but not to this degree. Hope had found someone worthy to idolize and look up to. Klaus felt his heart break in the best way possible as if had decided to crack itself open slightly to let the light in. His daughters light and Caroline's light.

"I see why you like her." He heard Haylee admit. He was shocked, he knew how the two once felt about each other when Tyler was alive. They had once been each other's competition and rival, but now with time and maturity, he could see the mutual respect between them. "She's nice, strong, and…" Haylee paused seeing that she was in danger of actually praising Caroline out loud.

"You've got a chance."

Klaus ripped his eyes from his salvation to look at Haylee with eyes full of wonder and hope.

"What?" He half whispered half choked.

"She's into you, I could tell in the office. She wouldn't look at you, she didn't rip your head off when you shut her door, and…" Haylee tuned and looked at Klaus in the eyes. "She's Caroline, from what I hear she'll always have a soft spot for you, you just have to earn it."

Caroline dropped Hope off with her parents in the most civil manner possible. She no longer avoided Klaus's eye. Instead, she embraced it with as much strength and poise as possible. He seemed like he was looking for something while he studied her face as she explained that Hope was behind most witches her age, but would prove to be a quick study and be up to speed in a few months. Caroline told Haylee she would be allowing Hope to stay off campus so long as she was on time for all classes and present for extracurriculars.

Klaus seemed less than happy with the idea of his daughter's home being a bent rule rather than an assumed predicament, but it spoke to Caroline's kindness towards his family… and himself. However he kept quiet about this, he objected too to the idea of extracurriculars.

"My daughter will be spending her free time with her family, as she should."

He said more to Haylee than to Caroline, still though Caroline interceded.

"Klaus, group activities and on-campus community is a part of our core as a school. It does wonders for the kids and improves their social skills as well as their happiness here."

Klaus hesitated, but Hope piped up.

"Dad, Caroline says there's an art club and her daughter Lizzie is in it." Klaus looked at his daughter who stood between him and Haylee now, holding both their hands. "And Josie is on the soccer team."

Klaus now looked at Caroline who gazed proudly at Hope for the mention of her daughters.

"Very well." Klaus crouched to eye-level with his daughter. "Just also long as you don't feel bad for making the other students jealous at your perfection, my littlest wolf."

Klaus could feel both Caroline and Haylee roll their eyes. Hope simply laughed as if he was joking, but he left it at that.

 

Caroline slept restlessly that night. She dreamt of Ric and her girls. They were walking away from her across the grounds into the woods, leaving her behind. A hand reached around her stomach and pulled her back from them. It was Klaus. His body was strong and firm against her own. He smelled delicious and his warmth felt comforting against her fear of losing her family. He kissed her neck from behind, his whiskers sending chills down her spine.

"They don't understand." She had said to him.

"Do not fear my love, they will be back." He whispered with honesty and affection in her ear.

Caroline woke up crying, but she could not for the life of her remember the dream that had made her cry so hard. She was inexplicably hungry, too. She wandered downstairs in the night and switched on the kitchen light. The light bounced off the sunshine yellow walls, a color Lizzie and her had picked together. As she sipped on a blood bag she heard the sound of one of her girls pull their blankets off and make their way downstairs in small steps.

Josie appeared in the kitchen.

"Baby, what are you doing up?" She set down her blood bag and walked to her daughter.

"I didn't get to meet your friend." She said half asleep.

"You can meet him another time, Josie-honey." Caroline scooped her up like a maiden.

"Tomorrow?" She closed her eyes looking completely innocent in her blue cloud footie pajamas.

"Maybe." Caroline walked upstairs and tucked in her daughter. Caroline had no idea where this curiosity about Klaus had started, but both she and Alaric had resolved to keep them away from him and his family, aside from Hope and Haylee. Caroline would not let her daughters see the darkest part of her and in order to do that, she must also hide Klaus.


	5. Chapter 5

Klaus

The following day Klaus woke early, before any of his family. The house he had procured for them was much bigger than the one he had spent so much time on renovating the last time he had lived in Mystic Falls. There were three kitchens, nineteen fireplaces, fifteen master sized bedrooms, twenty bathrooms, two libraries (one large and one small for Klaus's study and art room), and many other lounge rooms and tea rooms. Haylee had told him it was too big, and though Klaus did not share her opinion he was prepared to concede and move into the smaller home he had owned before, but Hope had fallen in love the large pond on the grounds that resided beside a great white willow tree. Klaus was incapable of denying his daughter the pleasure of the view and the light hearted enjoyment climbing the grand tree. He had many memories from his childhood of climbing trees with Rebekah at the risk of their father's wrath. Mikael did not like Klaus to have fun and he did not like Rebekah having in un-woman-like behavior. After being set free from Mikael, even if they had been on the run, Klaus had been able to entertain himself in any way he chose and Rebekah had been liberated by their father's sexist ideals.

Klaus had vowed when he had learned about Hope that she would want for nothing. She would have every bit of love and support she could need, would have everything she desired, and be supplied with the best education and opportunities the world had to offer. This of course included Caroline's school. Klaus poured himself some black tea and began to sip it plain. He thought of Caroline and what he might do to get back in her good graces. No that wouldn't be enough, Klaus thought to himself. It was like Haylee had said, he needed to earn the place she had for him in her heart, no matter what that place may be.

Klaus had been in her good graces before. When she had attempted to save his life when they believed Silas had staked him. When she danced with him at his family's ball wearing both the dress and bracelet he had given her. Even the first time they had been together. But what had being in her good graces gotten him? Lectures and guilt over her hurt feelings. It was no longer good enough to be just good enough for her smiles and kind words. Klaus wanted it all and for the first time he could see it was nearly in his grasp.

One of Klaus's compelled servants walked in. A tall blonde woman who he believed only spoke Russian. She offered out her wrist to him, but he waved it away. He knew Caroline only drank from blood bags and though this lifestyle was something he never would adopt he also knew she was okay with what she called "snatch, eat, erase." Perhaps he would try this out and see how it would fit. Perhaps he would try it out at a local prison, being sure those who he harmed deserved it. Maybe he wouldn't even completely erase…

Caroline

Caroline had been up for hours. Or maybe she hadn't slept at all. She was unsure. Unsure about so many things. There was so much going on at the moment she had absolutely no idea in what order to deal with it in. The school was hosting parent-teacher meetings next week, Bonnie would be here in a month for a guest lecture and was still waiting on Caroline to select a subject she felt the students needed to hear about, and on top of all of this Alaric and her were in a fight. She was ignoring any and all Klaus related problems.

Caroline was usually the first one up in the morning, but instead of her solitude of the kitchen and front deck she normally had for nearly an hour, she found Alaric downstairs pouring her and him coffee. He turned to look at her. His face was coved with guilt and frustration.

"We need to talk." He said slowly.

"Okay…Outside?" Caroline suggested and Alaric nodded as he poured her creamer into her coffee and she put to spoons of sugar into his. They trade and walked out to the deck. Alaric sat his coffee down on the railing. While Caroline sipped hers she allowed him to think and have a few moments of silent preparation for what he would say.

"I'm sorry." He said. Caroline almost choked on her drink.

He looked at her now. The sun was just coming between the tall pine trees and the wind shook them slightly. The morning was becoming as kind as the apology she was given.

"I'm confused." Caroline set her mug down as well while Ric reached out and held her shoulder.

"I realized last night that I wasn't mad at you, you didn't do anything wrong-I mean I do wish you had talked with me more on Hopes living at home, but other than that… you can't control what Klaus feels or what you do… and I still want you to stick to our agreement of keeping Josie and Lizzie out of it-"

"I understand Ric!" Caroline jumped into his arms hugging him tightly and lovingly. Still holding him she said "But there's nothing to worry about." She pulled away holding his hands in hers and looked him in the eye.

"I'm a mom first you know that." She smiled knowing she could trust herself that this was the truth. Alaric looked less impressed.

"I know you feel that way, Caroline… right now anyway… but you and Klaus have this weird connection that I don't understand at all. I'm not afraid of it anymore I'm just wanting you to remember that it's okay, so long as you keep the girls out of it." He held her face for a moment in his hands and kissed her on the forehead. They hugged for a little longer before going inside to make the girls breakfast and pack their lunches.

Klaus

When Klaus returned he was full and proud. He had fed on a couple of men who had been convicted of rape charges and another security guard who had admitted after some compulsion to targeting some of the inmates based on race. Each he had compelled not to forget, but to believe he was a terrible dream that would haunt them forever. Cruel yes, but Klaus felt pride in his work.

Haylee and his daughter were in the large marble floored kitchen having breakfast and Klaus was Klaus was just able to slip past them to shower the blood off of his body. He was downstairs in time to cut up his daughter's second waffle.

"Are you coming to the airport, Klaus?" Haylee asked before sipping her coffee.

"Do I want to see my sister after her and Marcel have been gallivanting around god-knows-where for much more time than necessary." Klaus had been amused at first at the two of them going at it again, but as the loneliness crept under Klaus's skin he begged for Marcel to come to him, but he refused to leave Rebekah's side. Since Klaus held a familiar hatred for his friend.

"Klaus." Haylee raised her eyebrows at him as a warning.

"I'll see them when they get here. There are some things I need to take care of."

Hope spoke next.

"Dad, please don't be mad at aunt Rebekah. Everyone's going to be back together soon."

Klaus looked at his daughter with love and understanding in his eyes. He had not planned on being cruel to anyone in front of her, but she was so sensitive she would see it either way. He had decided not to hold his grudge outwardly, internally though he intended on holding it close for a century or so. All that had saved him from his loneliness was a letter he had received from Hope. It had a drawing of him and her and Camille. It reminded him of the growth he had made for Hope and kept him from going too dark.

"I'm not upset with your aunt, Hope," Klaus smiled. "I'm only taking care of some things before everyone gets here."

He kissed his daughter on the forehead.

After loading his daughter and Haylee into the car Klaus wandered back into the house. He walked around for a while before finally settling into his study and began to draw. First a portrait of Hope, then he worked on a sketch of the willow tee by the pond from memory, then before he knew what he had been doing he had drawn a pair of eyes on one paper, a cute familiar nose on another, and then a pair of lips. He looked out on the pages scattered around him on his desk. It was Caroline. Klaus stood abruptly and began to pace. He grabbed his car keys and set off towards the things he had to do.


	6. Chapter 6

Caroline

Her morning had started off strange. Her talk with Ric, though clarifying and healthy, had made her think more about Klaus than she had in a long time. She remembered back in high school how he had consumed her thoughts at night. He had been a man, a real man. Who had treated her with more respect than any of her previous boyfriends had. Unfortunately the bar had been really low at the time after all the emotional, verbal, and physical abuse she had received from Matt, Tyler, and Damon. But after Stephan she knew what real tender, soft, and affectionate love felt like. Now her bar felt impossibly high. Every man she met, aside from Ric, felt wrong for her. But for her to go down the Ric rabbit hole again she knew she would only ever be wanting more than he could give her. So she had resolved to be alone until her children were 80 year old bad ass witches, or presidents, or doctors. She wanted to wait till their lives had been fulfilled and successful.

But what was this new tenderness behind Klaus's eyes? He was still the man she knew all those years ago, but her had a softness, a wholeness that his shattered self had lacked before. It couldn't just be Hope. She knew that being a parent changed you more than anyone, but he seemed like he had been fixed from the inside out.

Caroline forced herself to focus on his first action towards her, locking her in her office with him. THAT was Klaus. She wouldn't let herself forget that he was violent. He was unpredictable. And he wasn't safe for her to dwell on. Not while her daughters were around.

Papers were pushed around Caroline's desk as she sorted through her day, completing task after task. She arranged student teacher meeting's. Looked over final test outlines. Emailed several parents and teachers back, and finally chose a date and time for Bonnie's gust lecture.

Shit. Caroline thought. She had forgotten to talk to Ric about what they wanted Bonnie to lecture on. She would have to come up with options on her own now and talk to him about it later, he was taking the girls into town today. She was getting towards crunch time, Bonnie had asked for the subject by the end of tomorrow.

Caroline stood to go to what was once the Salvatore wine cellar/torture room and prison. It had been converted into a private library of grimoires and had a spelled barrier that only Caroline, Ric, and Bonnie could pass through. A precaution that Caroline had been adamant about while the renovations and magical layout of the old boarding house was taking place. Some of the spell books had belonged to the eldest and powerful covens in the world, others had been the private copies of dangerous witches Bonnie had encountered on her travels, some had been a donation from Klaus and his family years ago. Either way, every book was an arsenal against some group of supernatural and needed to be protected and locked away.

She opened her door to find Jeremy, crossbow in hand, about to knock on her stain glass window. The look on his face made her heart skip a beat.

"Caroline…" He trailed off, his tone issuing a panic through Caroline's soul.

"Jeremy! What's wrong?" Caroline growled out, her protective instincts making her fists clench and crack.

"See for yourself." He moved out of her way and she looked down the old boarding house's wood-paneled hall. At the end of it close to the entrance she saw what was causing his reaction.

Elena and Damon stood side by side smiling at her. Damon's grin was mischievous and knowing. Elena, who stood to holding their one-year-old son Stephan in her arms smiled happily and warmly at her friend. Caroline heard Jeremy laugh behind her.

"Sorry, Elena made me." Caroline spun around and lightly punched her hired grounds guard in the shoulder.

"Jerk! You scared me!" She laughed warmly before running to her friend and brother-in-law.

She embraced Elena and the one-year-old in her arms greedily.

"I missed you so much!" She squealed.

"We missed you too!" Elena held her fried close while pushing the child higher up on her hip.

"Speak for yourself." Caroline heard Damon say. She released her friend and turned to face her irritating human brother-in-law.

He immediately pulled her into a hug too. Caroline breathed in his signature cologne and closed her eyes. She talked to Damon almost every week, but finally being able to see him and have him hold her brought tears to her eyes.

"Oh don't cry, blondie! It hasn't been that long." He pulled her in tighter with his week human strength.

It had been a long time. Too long. After Stefan's death, Damon had become her support system and best friend. When he and Elena moved to New York to be closer to the bar he owned and for Elena to go to school Caroline had lost a large portion of her support system and family. She hadn't really recovered, she simply had thrown herself into her work and her girls. She didn't exactly have friends anymore, just Ric, Lizzie, and Josie. That was all she had time and room for.

"What are you doing here?" Caroline questioned as Jeremy walked passed them to continue his rounds.

"Someone thought it would be a good idea to do a family road trip to Mystic Falls for our anniversary despite one of the three of us still being in diapers." Damon took Stephan out of Elena's arms and held him up to smell the child's bottom. "Speaking of which, I thought I smelt something."

"We wanted to see everyone and we knew Bonnie was going to be here soon, so what better time to come for a visit." Elena held Caroline's hand lovingly. "We are renting a house just outside of the town square and you are coming for a dinner party tonight with your girls and Ric."

"That sounds amazing! I'll bring dessert." Caroline's mind was buzzing with ideas of what to prepare when she stopped in her tracks. "Wait… did Jeremy tell you who else is in town?"

"No, why? Who?" Elena looked at Caroline confused.

"Klaus, his daughter is going to school here now… and his whole family is moving back."

"Well, I guess it is a true Mystic Falls reunion." Damon looked unconcerned, his cockiness though less amplified now was still as immortal as ever.

Klaus

He sat in his care, engine turned off staring up the wooded road. He had been headed to Caroline. He wanted to apologize. That was what he was meant to do, right? He needed to earn his place in her heart before he could earn a place in her life. He still loved her. Though he had never said it out loud, she had guessed it on more than one occasion. He could see she still was the same bright, intelligent, and beautiful as ever. He thought back to the first night he had seen a flicker of interest in her eyes, while they had been dancing. He had complimented her skill and admitted to asking around about her. It had been a brief spark of curiosity and perhaps acceptance, not even a half a second, but the spark in her blue eyes had been enough to burn up his insides and stay with him for eternity. He had hidden from his feelings then and here he was again… hiding.

He had pulled over halfway to the school. He told himself he needed just a moment to catch his breath, get some fresh air. But once he had stopped and turned off the ignition he froze. He couldn't even get out of the car. He gripped and twisted the steering wheel harshly in his hands.

He thought of Hope, trying to calm himself down. He thought of what Haylee had said to him yesterday about Caroline having feelings for him, he thought it might inspire him to turn the car back on and begin again towards his beacon of light, but it only choked him with more anxiety. His eyes stung as tears began to form. He growled and screamed as he slammed his hand on the dash repeatedly.

He heard Mikeal calling him a cowardice boy in the back of his head. He felt his mother shaking her head at his inability to act on love. Then… he heard Cami. The voice of reason in his hazy and anguished mind.

Go to her Klaus. This is your chance. Take it.

He felt strength wash over him. The strength he had so often seen in Caroline and admired. He channeled it and turned the key and drove once again towards his inspiration.

When Klaus arrived at the school he checked in at the gate with one of the Gilbert boy's pathetic excuses for a guard and parked. He walked the half mile stretch drive to the school and walked in. He went to her office first and found it unlocked and empty. The school seemed deserted despite the children at play outside. He went to Alaric's upstairs office. It was locked.

Klaus closed his eyes and listened. It was a long shot, but he knew if she was here he would hear her. Stillness took him over as he listened. He heard the children playing and a few guards walking the halls. He heard a few cooks chopping vegetables in the kitchen and small feet going up and down the wooden staircases. Suddenly he heard her. She was humming a small tune and then let out a sigh. He listened harder, not even trying to repress the smile on his face. A page of a book turned under her delicate figures. The library.

Klaus opened his eyes and made his way to the sound. He had no idea where he was going on account of him skipping the tour yesterday. He arrived in the large library where she sat alone in a large red leather chair behind a large oak desk. She had several grimoires spread around her. Her hair was down and slightly tussled like she had been running her hand through her soft curls.

"A bit of magical trouble, love?" He smiled widely at her and strode confidently to her.

"Klaus? What are you doing here… I thought you'd be on your way to pick up the rest of the Original clan." He could tell she was holding back her disdain for his family. He didn't blame her for the way she felt. They had put her and her friends through hell.

"No, my sister and I haven't exactly been on speaking terms of late so I decided it was best for everyone if I left her to reunited with my daughter alone."

"And that brought you here because?" She stood avoiding his eyes and began to stack her grimoires. Klaus moved to pick up the yellow legal pad she had neat notes inscribed all over. He read it absentmindedly as she moved away from him.

"I thought I should come by and apologize." She snatched the pad away from him and placed it on top of her books.

"And instead you're just being nosey and evasive."

She walked out of the room. Klaus strode after her quickly.

"No, I am simply trying to work up to my point, love-"

"Stop calling me that." She interrupted and turned a corner heading to the lowered level of the old boarding house. He passed a small plaque that read no students allowed.

"Caroline- please." She stopped at the bottom of the staircase and turned to look at him. She looked conflicted, more conflicted than he had ever seen her.

"Fine apologize." He walked slowly to her.

She wavered, not in fear, but something else shook through her.

"I shouldn't have acted the way I did yesterday. I was nervous about seeing you and acted rashly love. I am sorry for grabbing you and for locking the door, you didn't deserve that disregard for your personal space or respect." Caroline looked at him wide-eyed blinking. He had taken her off guard by this honest admission and apology. She hadn't known he had spent time in therapy and time healing with his family. He had shocked her with his growth and maturity. The fact that this had happened stroked his ego slightly, he still had the power to surprise her even if it wasn't in a bold way.

"Thank you." She stuttered out and turned again walking into a wine cellar the Salvatore's had also used as a prison. He walked to follow her but was rebounded by a magical seal. He looked inside where Caroline replaced the grimoires on multiple shelves.

She came back out and shut the door. When she turned her came close to her. She let him. He reached out and placed his hand on her arm and she backed into the shut door looking into his eyes.

"Caroline." He barely whispered her name. He knew he shouldn't, but her acceptation of his apology had given him an unhealthy dose of hope. He moved in closer their bodies nearly touching. She was not breathing under his touch.

His other hand moved up and pushed a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes at his touch.

"Stop." She whispered. He did. But he didn't move away from her. He sat there looking at her angel-like face. With her eyes closed in this way, it reminded him of the way she had tried to hold back tears when she thought she was going to die on Elena's couch from his hybrid bite. The recollection made him step back. He hated himself for doing so many things to her, but that perhaps had been the one thing that had nearly driven him to desiccation.

She opened her eyes. She looked so scared.

"Can we talk?" Her words shook him. He had never in a million years thought she might say this to him. He nodded in shock and she turned to walk up the stairs.

Caroline

How it had gone this far this fast she didn't know. His apology had been so honest. And shameless. His respect and maturity made her question everything she knew about Klaus. He had never been one to call any of his decisions a mistake. She remembered the closest thing she had ever gotten to an apology such as this was when Silas had made him think he was dying. When she had screamed at him enough to break the trance he had thanked her and told her that she was what had saved him, she had brought him back. His honesty then had scared her, but this was terrifying. Who was Klaus to her if he wasn't the impulsive dangerous romantic connection in her past.

And then he had pushed her hair behind her ear… she could practically feel Stefan's hand where his was. How could this be happening? How could she be having all these feelings and doubts about Klaus all of a sudden? And Stefan? How could Klaus be bringing all that grief back to the surface? She needed to be honest with Klaus in the same way he had been honest with her.

She led him back into the library and locked the large double doors. No one would look for her here, they would be undisturbed.

"Please sit." She said to the silent Klaus. He didn't, neither did she. Instead, she paced while he waited patiently. Klaus. Patient. Who was he?

"I need you to leave me alone Klaus."

"You brought me in here to tell me to leave you alone?"

"No you don't understand… I… I'm-"

"Yes you're a mother I know, Caroline I'm not trying to make you expose your children to anything you don't want them exposed to-"

Carline couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears were rolling down her cheeks now.

"No you don't know- It's Stefan! You can't just come here and – You can't… I can't… He's still here." Caroline clutched at her chest. "You can't just come in here and make me feel him again! You can't break my heart again- I won't let you!"

She stated with a thud on the large bench by the window. Klaus stared at her horrified by her pain and moved slowly and carefully before kneeling before her.

"Caroline I don't understand…"

Caroline's cries were more whimpers now. He makeup was running down her cheeks and her nose was running as well. Klaus wiped away her blackened tears with his thumbs gently. She tried to push his hands away, but she was weak in her hysteria and part of her like the comfort of his hand cupping her face. Her grief bubbled up more to the surface as he did this though.

"When I see you, Klaus." She choked out barely able to breathe as her heartbreak made itself more noticeable. "I remember him… he's gone Klaus and he's never coming back."

He head fell into his shoulder soaking his grey long sleeve with salty tears. She tried to speak more into the fabric, but he shushed her and rubbed her head with his hand.

"Shhhh…" He hugged her close.

After several minutes of this counterproductive comfort, Caroline sat back and attempted to smear the mascara off her cheeks while Klaus only stared at her with pain in his deep dark eyes. She stood and he mimicked her motion.

"Klaus." She breathed out unevenly. "I'm not ready, I can't. It's too soon. And you and me… there's too much history here." She paused and looked at her shoes the back up at him confidently. "Nothing can ever happen."

She walked past him to leave and could feel his eyes on her as she unlocked the doors and made her way to any pace far away from him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tried to make this chapter longer for you guys. I'm really wanting everyone to see what Klaus sees in Caroline because I felt like he was the only character who truly saw her for who she was. Plus, it's just super fun to write from all these different characters perspectives, I thank Julie Plecc every day for giving us these amazing diverse characters. Let me know your thoughts I read all the reviews and am willing to take your ideas!

Caroline

She knew she shouldn't have done it. Shared those intimate feelings with Klaus. Cried in front of him. No. Not cry. She had full on broken into hysteria. She had pushed through the rest of her day the best she could, though her chest was heavy with guilt and sadness. Klaus had once had a way of getting her true feelings out by simply annoying her into snapping and releasing a dam of withheld truth bombs. This time it had caught her in a different way. He had caught her a different way. Something inside her had become soothed by the apology he had given her. It had been… humble.

Humility. It was the thing she possibly loved most about Stefan. Seeing that trait in Klaus had leveled something inside of her. She felt the need and desire to be honest and open with him the way she had been with her husband and best friend. She rerated it as soon as she had sat crumpled on that bench in the library. She had locked the door expecting her to be able to tell him the same thing she had told herself over and over again.

I'm a mother. That comes first.

But she had wound up admitting, in sobs rather than words, to him reminding her of Stefan. How could she face him now that he knew that? How could she face herself now knowing it herself? Caroline had thought she had healed. She thought she didn't date because of her job and her girls. As it turned out, she couldn't have been more wrong. She still wasn't done grieving. It was a defeating feeling, realizing that her mountain she thought she had climbed years ago had doubled in size.

Thankfully Elena called to reschedule their dinner, on account of Stefan having thrown up. She wanted to be sure it wasn't contagious before having Caroline and Ric's girls exposed. Caroline had taken the opportunity to curl up on the couch with Lizzie and read while Alaric and Josie worked on her math homework.

As Caroline held her daughter close she turned the page of the Junie B. Jones book her seven-year-old had selected.

"Mommy, you're not doing the voices," Lizzie remarked.

Caroline had been so distracted by the growing hole in her chest she had forgotten.

"I'm sorry, baby. I'll do them."

"That's okay. I'll read to you mommy, it will make you not so sad." Caroline felt more guilt wash over her. Her daughter, though supernaturally sensitive, had picked up on Caroline's grief. She had learned to shield her negative emotions from her daughters' skills for the most part, but she had let her guard down.

Caroline simply pulled her daughter in tighter as she began to read in her favorite voices.

Klaus

Klaus arrived back at his home late. Late and intoxicated. He had chosen bourbon over the blood of innocence. He wasn't drowning his sorrows, he was attempting to inadvertently drown Caroline's. How could he have been so stupid? Of course, she was still grieving for her husband, it had only been a few years. Klaus felt selfish and obtuse as he downed the entirety of the booze available at the Mystic Grill.

He felt worse when he walked through his entryway and was greeted by a shrill.

"Nik!"

He had forgotten his sister and her companion would be waiting for him when he arrived home. Niklaus tried to straighten up his posture to mock sobriety. He stumbled slightly as he walked to his sister who was dressed in an insanely tight black dress with an ankle length grey petticoat. Leave it to Rebekah to overdress for a family reunion when Marcel was around.

"Rebekah." He slurred.

"Are you drunk?" She stopped her walk towards him.

"I know drunk Klaus and this is him." Marcel walked into the grand entry next with a large smile on his face. He moved in for a handshake. Klaus took it hesitantly, still feeling betrayed by the man. Marcel pulled him into a hug next which Klaus outwardly pushed away from.

"Please-" He paused swing his arms slightly. "I've had a long day, Marcel."

"Nik… what's wrong?" Rebekah walked to her brother, heels clicking, placing a kind hand on his arm.

"I do not need your pity, Rebekah." He pulled away from her sharply, wishing he had another drink. The last thing he wanted to do was start something between Caroline and his sister. He wanted to slip past his sister and Marcel and chalk tonight up to him having to much to drink. Any more details would only make matters more complicated with Caroline.

Haylee walked in next.

"Shush it, would you. Your daughter is sleeping." She crossed her arms and leaned against the archway leading to the dining room. "You talked to Caroline, I see."

"Caroline! That's what you're on about! Jesus Nik you've been back for one day and she's already up to her old tricks." Rebekah exploded.

"Who's Caroline?"

"Hope's headmistress," Haylee said.

"Nik's old flame." Rebekah sneered. "She tried to kill us, who knows how many times, and he still just wants in her pants."

Klaus slammed his sister into the wall at Original speed. Marcel was on him in an instant, but Klaus easily knocked him back.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Klaus was practically foaming at the mouth with rage. Rebekah pushed his arm off her throat and was gone in a blur.

"She'll cool off," Marcel said nonchalantly as he picked himself up off the floor.

Haylee began up the stairs.

"You two better keep quiet, Hope needs her sleep." She disappeared with that.

Marcel looped his arm around Klaus's neck in a fraternal way.

"Come on man, you can tell me all about this old flame of yours while I pour you a drink."

Klaus growled under his breath but allowed himself to be led into the dining room by his so-called old friend.

 

Rebekah

That two-bit trollop has seduced him again! I'll kill her. I'll kill him. We'll see how sexy she is after I skin her alive. I hope Nik likes his women missing their eyes, that BITCH!

Rebekah blurred off in the direction of the old boarding house. A guard tried to stop her and get her identification, she simply flicked him several yards away, knocking him out. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she would find Caroline and make her pay for twisting her brother's mind again.

She stopped her overpriced heals in the grass at the distant sight of a light on several miles away on the Salvatore grounds. She sped off in the direction of the light. When she arrived, she was gritting her perfect teeth as she took in the home. It was textbook Caroline. Even in the darkness of the 1:00 am air the home oozed OCD perfection. It was three stories, but small. It had a deck that wrapped around the second floor and a wooden staircase leading up to the deck to the front door. The home has painted some shade of white and the garden beside it gave the home a cottage like ambiance. The picture-perfect homemade Rebekah's stomach flop with jealousy.

'Yet another thing Caroline has and doesn't deserve.' Rebekah thought.

Rebekah tried to enter the home. Of course, she required an invitation. What compelled lowlife had Caroline drudged up to sign the lease? Rebekah seethed but was taken aback when a light switched on. Rebekah peered in one of the windows to see a very exhausted, puffy-eyed Caroline. She was dressed in a soft puffy sweater and no pants. Her eyes were red and swollen. She had been crying. Rebekah held her breath as she watched in secret. She tried to withhold a smile as she thought of Caroline's sadness.

Caroline pulled a blood bag from her fridge and sucked at it slightly before leaning her forearms on the counter. She began to shake- no cry.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." Rebekah tried not to laugh as Caroline began to pray in front of her, but just as soon as she cracked a selfish smile her heart broke at Caroline's next words.

"I tried not to Stefan… I tried not to miss you too much. I thought I would grieve and then keep on living. I thought I would just live… I don't want to love. It hurts too much." Caroline's prayer was barely a whisper as she continued. "Klaus… he just makes me feel things… I never wanted to feel in the first place." She whimpered out a slight laugh.

"I never wanted to feel this way again… Stefan, please forgive me…"

Rebekah couldn't listen anymore. The empathy that was taking over within her felt alien and wrong. She had come here to torture Caroline not to hear her innermost sadness. She blurred away back to her brother's home, her mind buzzing with questions, regret, and confusion.

Marcel

He hadn't gotten much out of Klaus, but from what he could tell Caroline had her hooks in deep. Deeper than he had ever thought possible. Even with Cami Klaus had always had a bit of a stranger complex in their relationship. But from the way he spoke of Caroline and what Rebekah had told him when she returned to their room that night, Marcel could see that these two had a connection. Almost as if they were two sides to the same coin.

Klaus had said she was in pain, that she had always been in pain, but not like this. He had never seen it like this before. It sounded like the girl had experienced a lot of death and abuse. He waited patiently as Klaus had choked out that he didn't know how to help her.

"She needs someone… to help her figure out where all the pieces go before she can put herself back together." Klaus had taken another swig of bourbon. "I don't know if I can help her sort through this, Marcel."

"But, you want to be…?" Marcel had questioned.

"I've wanted to be the man for her since I met her. But how could I have been when I was a monster, not a man… and now," He paused. "Now she needs support… I don't know how to support anyone." He had chucked his glass at the wall shattering it.

"Klaus!" Marcel had shouted. "Look at me."

He grabbed his old friend's face in his hands.

"You support that little girl upstairs every damn day! You know how to support. You know how to love… It just sounds like maybe you need to do it slowly. Not scare her away by moving too fast."

This had seemed to be some sound advice to Klaus. Marcel lay in his bed holding his girlfriend close and he wondered if he would take it to heart or simply run away.

Caroline

Monday rolled around sooner than expected. She had plans that night to go to Elena and Damon's rental home for dinner with Alaric and the girls. Normally Caroline relished in the time she got to spend with her friends, but her eyes were still tired from the crying she had been doing every night since Klaus had seen her break down in the library. Her brain was fuzzy as well, not something she was used to. Caroline found comfort in organization and planning, but her foggy brain was keeping her from her self-soothing organizational tendencies.

She took a walk before the school day ended through the town square. Finding her mother's bench, she sat and thought with what mental energy she still possessed. She thought of Stephan and of her girls. She thought of Alaric and his words to her the other morning. But most of all she felt the familiar shame of her attachment to Klaus. She remembered the shame she had felt after sleeping with him. She had wanted it for longer than she cared to admit and only Stefan had seemed to be able to accept her afterward. He had always been the one to make her see herself as acceptable. To him, she was always enough.

In her prayer to him the other night she had asked for his forgiveness. She had been angry with herself for having unresolved feelings for Klaus. She was still angry with herself. Klaus had once again found a way under her skin, but she had been the one to let him. And for that, she would never forgive herself.

Damon

He had known that his sister-in-law had been hurting. She tried to hide it with her constant happy texts and knee-jerk reactions of joy during their phone calls. But see her for himself Damon could see she was still hurting. She needed to let go. It had taken Damon a long time to let go of his brother and start living his life again, but with Elena's help, it had been do-able. She had told him that Stefan wouldn't have wanted him to live in the past, he would have wanted him to celebrate their life going forward. And she had been right. Stefan had always wanted for Damon to be happy. To find love. To have a future. And once he embraced that instead of grasping to the memories of his dead brother he had been able to process his grief completely.

Caroline, like him, was so desperately clinging to the past life she had with her best friend. That's why Damon did it. That's why he dug up the contact he hadn't ever wanted to use again in his life. That's why he called him. He invited Klaus to their anniversary dinner with one goal in mind. Get Caroline to move on.

Sure, blondie would be pissed the first five years of his child's life, but perhaps after the sixth, she'd get over it and her and Klaus would ride off into the sunset together. And he would be the one they thanked at their wedding toast.

"What are you smirking about?" Elena asked as she unloaded the grocery bags she had just arrived with.

Damon who was on the floor with baby Stefan grinning over his plan looked up at his wife with a mischievous glint in his cat-like eyes.

"We'll be expecting a few more for dinner tonight, honey."

Haylee

"I'm sorry, but how come we are going to this dinner party?" Haylee glared at Klaus as he searched through their home wine caller, a room she didn't even know the mansion had, for the "perfect anniversary gift."

"Because Damon invited us." Klaus inspected a dusty bottle knowingly before placing it back in its place.

"I'm not friends with these people. And you hate Damon." Haylee folded her arms and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Call it a favor for a friend." Klaus moved to a different aisle of bottles.

"It's obvious isn't it." Rebekah descended the wooden staircase into the basement cellar. "Caroline will be there."

She hummed the last part out as though she were in a trance.

"Klaus, when I said you have a chance with her, I didn't mean that you should stalk her to the ends of the earth. She's still Hope's headmistress." Haylee approached him concerned now.

"Well, I think it's a tremendous idea," Rebekah stated matter-of-factly, earning a shocked look from both her brother and Haylee. "Not that one Niklaus, that's an atrocious year."

Rebekah pulled out an ivory green bottle and handed it to him.

"Here, at least someone in this family knows how to gift give."

"You hate Caroline." Haylee blurted out. Though Haylee had respect for Caroline now she couldn't see how Rebekah had done such a 180 from the other night.

"You can't kill her, Rebekah." Klaus took the bottle glaring at his sister.

"I wasn't planning on it, not unless I wanted to take a long nap at the bottom of the Pacific." She rolled her eyes.

The two parents stared for some time waiting for more information about Rebekah's sudden spirited kindness.

"What!" She cried out.

"What are you playing at?" Klaus looked unworried. Haylee, on the other hand, dreaded Rebekah causing friction between Hope's headmistress and their family.

"Let's just say, I can see that perhaps, she is not the gold-digging trollop she always came off as." Rebekah nearly choked on her words.

"How big of you, Rebekah." Klaus pushed past the two women and headed for the stairs.

"Don't be expecting us to be the best of friends now, Niklaus!" Rebekah called out after him.

"Wouldn't dream of it, sister." Klaus laughed up the stairs.

Haylee, however, required more of an explanation.

"Rebekah, why the change of heart? You hated her two days ago. I believe at one point you referred to her as 'a cheap knock-off Chanel that wouldn't be bought out of a Walmart clearance bin.'"

"I went to kill her the other night. And I may have accidentally eavesdropped on her praying to Stefan."

Haylee blinked in shock.

"I'm not sure which part of that was more twisted!" Haylee felt sick.

"I just don't find her as shallow now, is that a crime?" Rebekah turned to walk away, but Haylee grabbed her wrist stopping her.

"Wait, so just like that you're all for her and Klaus getting together?"

"You're kidding, right? Klaus and Caroline will drag their feet on this for at least another century. You're kidding yourself if you think they will be having a June wedding, Haylee." Rebekah's eyes glimmered with something Haylee almost misidentified as empathy. "Besides, she's good for him, he deserves to be happy. Even if it takes him a million years to pop the question."

Lizzie and Josie

The girls had noticed for some time that their mother was different. It wasn't when their mother had come home often from work sad all of a sudden. It wasn't when she and daddy had been having hushed conversations about mommy's friends coming to school. It was when mom had been ever since mommy had cleaned out the basement. At the end of the summer.

She was getting rid of lots of her old clothes and the girls' old toys and some of daddy's books and old things. The twins had been helping their mother when they found a box of letters, old ones that had been opened years ago. Some from their grandmother, Elizabeth Forbes, others from aunt Elena and aunt Bonnie. One was from mommies' old friend Klaus.

Mom had taken the box from the twins and seen something in it that caused conflict. The girls could sense their mother's emotions trip over themselves. Something in the box had excited and scared their mother all at once. But what, in a box of old mail, could have scared their mother into a permanent oblivion of conflict. Conflict between love and hate. Happiness and fear. Shame and frustration. But the love was not like what the girls sensed from their mother when she tucked them in a night.

No. This love the girls had read from their mother's mind was one barely lit. A flicker of inconsistent light in an otherwise dim part of her soul. And something else… something ghostlike in that it had once been strong and alive, but for some time had been numbed and ignore. Something stained in conflict and shame, but indescribable joy.

The girls had touched their mother's hand at this trying to better read this cold faded emotional memory, but the only thing that flicked into the twins' head was the rush of superior strength and the image of the tree's in a familiar part of the Salvatore grounds.

Freya

Frey twisted in her chair as the train that carried herself, her brothers Kol and Elijah, as well as Kol's witch fiancé. They were about to be united with her siblings and Hope as long last. She had had so little time with them already when had been worried they would never be able to banish the Hollow to the end of existence. Now it was finally over. They were safe to be together once more.

Her full heart was steadfastly allowed to float higher when she received a text from her sister that Klaus was once again pursuing Caroline. Rebekah had seemed outraged in the text, but Freya only felt joy.

She had seen into the closed-off heart and mind of her brother, so she knew all about Caroline. She knew how she lifted his dark soul higher. She knew how loyal he was to her. She could feel his unwavering attachment to her. She had left a mark. But he had left one too. She could see through his memories with an unbiased eye and contemplate what his self-hatred and intolerance couldn't. She saw the way she looked back at him. Saw the way she had reacted when he kissed her. Felt her heart beat quicken as she touched her every time. And most clearly she could see the honesty in Caroline's eye's as she pleaded for her life after he had bitten her.

There she was lying on the couch struggling for breath and yet, she comforted him. She attempted to keep her sickly eyes open as she huffed out the bravest thing Freya had ever heard anyone say to her brother.

"I know you're in love with me."

Freya could see in a way that Klaus could not. He was blind with pride and coming down from a passing fancy of rage and violence as she continued.

"Anyone capable of love is capable of being saved." Yes this had saved her life and Klaus knew it was manipulation, but beneath the manipulation was something uncommonly rare yet surprisingly abundant in this beautiful woman. It was the truth. Truth and want. She had wanted him to save her not just for her, but for himself and for what it could mean to her. What it could justify for her.

After a few hours of contemplation on this went by, Freya's phone began to ring.

"Hello." She answered her sisters call.

"Forget how much I hate the woman, let's just end it." Rebekah huffed on the other line.

"What? Rebekah, you can't kill her."

"God! Why does everyone in their mother think I am going to kill her."

Freya remained silent raising her eyebrows.

"We need to end this fucking back and forth between these two idiots," Rebekah stated angrily. "We are going to get them together for the sake of Nik's heart, Caroline's desperate depress head and my sanity."


	8. Chapter 8

Klaus

Party crashing had often been something Rebekah and his brothers had enjoyed. Granted the party often ended in blood shed and rolling heads. Tonight, Klaus dreaded, would be of a similar outcome. He didn't know who he was more worried about. Caroline finding his family and himself toasting to Damon and Elena's anniversary alongside her. Or Rebekah's strange shift in attitude towards Caroline. He sensed she was brewing a plot. Klaus feared what his sister was willing to put Caroline, a woman who had been through too much already, through just to spite him for having feelings for her. His mind was put at ease when he assisted in buckling his daughter into her booster seat.

"How do you know Mr. Salvatore, Daddy?" Hope looked up at him with her golden eyes beaming. She was excited to go to a friend's house. She knew Caroline's girls would be there and was excited, granted there was a few years age difference, to have other children to play with.

"His brother and I were good friends." Klaus snapped the buckle across Hopes chest.

Haylee and Hope rode with Klaus to Damon's, while Marcel and Rebekah took Marcels silver sports car. Klaus had long since given up on the showy cars after Hope was born. He was not a car man to begin with, but the added on struggle of child's car seats, strollers, bike racks, and every other accessory children required anything less and a four seater Subaru seemed unreasonable to him. His youngest brother, Kol, had been the one to make the most fun of Klaus, but he did not care. All he had wanted was a safe and easy transportation set up for his daughter and Haylee.

But as the pulled up to the side street across from the small blue rental home of Damon and Elena's Klaus felt his heartbeat quicken with uneasy pride. Damon sat out on the porch sipping a bourbon on the rocks easily, grinning at Klaus's arrival. The car. Klaus knew he wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Nice ride!" Damon called out as Klaus walked around the side of the car where Haylee was unbuckling their daughter.

Klaus simply glared back at his old nemesis. He had to keep calm though, he had to remember it was because of Damon that he was even going to be in the same room as Caroline for the evening. When Damon had called him, Klaus was expecting a favor or a threat. What he wasn't expecting was what Damon had to say about Caroline.

Klaus's phone rang in his ears and his difficult to acquire relaxation dissipated. He had been painting an ode to Monet's "Water Lilies" for Hope. She had recently been taken with romantic impressionism and he had a series planned to decorate her large bedroom.

He put his long brush down in which was tipped with sea foam green. He grumbled as he wiped his paint covered hands on a dirtier cloth and moved to pick up the odious piece of technology. The name on the screen made his blood pressure, if he had had blood pressure, rise. What on earth could this pathetically, now human, succubus want from him.

"Damon, I didn't know you were the last person I wanted to hear from and now I do. Thank you for the wakeup call, now if you don't mind-"

"It's about Caroline." Damon sang tauntingly.

Klaus squeezed the phone in his hand and growled.

"How many times is that going to work on you, wolfy?" Damon laughed on the other line.

"What about her, Damon. You have three seconds."

"And you've had years." Damon snapped now serious. "Caroline has been moping around for so long, she doesn't know how to escape Stephan's death anymore."

"And what is it I'm supposed to do?" Klaus hissed, not just because of his pure hatred for Damon, but because of his frustration with not knowing how to help the woman he loved.

"You can come to my place for a little get together this weekend. You can bring the wine, I know you have expensive taste."

"Damon." Klaus warned through his teeth.

"I'm serious. Caroline will be there, so will her and Ric's girls. Bring the whole Original clan for all I care, just be there."

Klaus was silent. He didn't know what to say.

"I know we all were against you two from the start, but I now chose in my infinite frickin' wisdom…" Damon sounded mad at himself now. "To live by Stephan's example. He always knew there was something between you two, and that the something wasn't exactly the worst thing in the world."

"I see…" Klaus uttered in shock. First Rebekah. Now Damon. Who was next? Mikael rising from the grave to be his best man?

"I think you may be her chance at happiness, as much as I hate to admit it. But… she's my sister. I want her to be the happiest she can be. Even if that means you." Damon sounded as though he were trying not to throw up or maybe throw a punch as he spoke.

"Very well, I suppose anything after 1921 is unacceptable?" Klaus conceded to Damons wine ransom.

"That's the spirit, and yes." Damon was cocky again. "And keep it quiet till the day, Caroline might not come if she knows your family is."

"Of course." Klaus huffed.

"Hello to you too, Damon." Haylee called form behind him as the small family made their way across the street.

"And this must be Hope." Damon was immediately harmless looking as he knelt down to greet Klaus's daughter.

"Hi, Mr. Salvatore." Hope held out her hand and Damon took it and shook it smiling widely.

"Call me uncle Damon." Klaus cringed.

"She will do no such thing." He snapped.

"It's okay daddy," Hope said. "Uncle Damon means well."

Damon looked from Hope to Klaus and back again confused.

"Haylee why don't you take Hope inside while I speak with Damon."

Haylee rolled her eyes at the men and walked inside holding Hopes small hand.

"My daughter seems to see that your intentions tonight are pure." Klaus moved to lean against the banister of the front porch. He took Damon's drink and downed it, he would need something stronger for the nerves.

"Well, she's right. Caroline will be here soon and I need you on your best behavior, which mean no more of my expensive bourbon." He swiped the now empty glass from the Original. "We have some things to discuss before she and Ric get here."

Klaus straightened up, suddenly all business.

"First, Caroline as you know is delicate. More delicate than she lets on, so no pushing her to move to fast." Klaus frowned, he had done a lot of horrible things in his past, but forcing women to have sex with him was not on that list. Before he could argue Damon continued.

"Second, Ric is trying to be okay with this. He still has feelings for Caroline, but he will never act on them because he knows they are not reciprocated." Klaus growled at the idea of the man Caroline lived with, raised children with, had a secret torch lit for her. "Third, easy on the possessive streak. Caroline's a feminist and she'd sooner throw you out on your Original ass then put up with it."

Klaus was not able to control that part of him, the half of him that was werewolf was so animalistic sometimes he wondered how he controlled his impulses around Caroline for so long. Seeing her in her cheer uniform. Kissing only her cheek the night of graduation. Not sweeping her off to New Orleans after their first time together in the woods of the now Salvatore Boarding School.

"Fourth, know that I will personally lock you in cement casing and drop you in the Mariana Trench if you break any of these rules or my sister-in-law's heart."

"Is that all." Klaus was seething now, stifling the urge to crush Damon's fragile human neck.

"No, one last thing." Klaus clenched his fist's. "I don't know how long you've loved her, but make sure it's forever. That's what she was supposed to have with my brother, she was robbed of that. At least I know she could really have it with you."

Klaus was speechless as Damon moved to the front door.

"At least one good thing came out of you becoming an immortal hybrid." Damon scoffed and went inside, leaving Klaus to his shocked state alone.

Caroline

As she and Ric packed up the food Caroline and the girls had made to share with Elena and Damon to celebrate their anniversary, Caroline was struggling against all her will not to break down crying. Elena and Damon's anniversary was always hard for her, not that she would ever hint that to them. She usually spent the day drinking just enough to numb herself, but not too much to where she would let down her walls in a drunken state. All she could think of on this day was how Stephan should be there celebrating with them.

Ric drove her and the girls, thank god. Caroline was far too distracted to steer a car containing her children and their father inside.

"You alright, Care?" Ric asked her in a low voice so as not to worry the twins.

"Yeah, of course, why?" Caroline lied easily. It was so easy to fain happiness and contentment, it was all she had done all her middle school and high school career. Even the father of her children was easily deceived.

"I just thought you seemed a bit off." He abandoned his hunch.

"No just tired form all that cooking." She forced a laugh as her heart began to quake.

"Yeah do you think you girls made enough food?" Ric looked jokingly back at the girls.

"Mommy always says it's better to have too much food at a party than too little." Josie crossed her arms outraged.

Ric looked at Caroline amused. She raised her eyebrows teasingly.

"It's true."

"Fine you win." Ric said dramatically to the girls who laughed at their father.

Caroline attempted to ignore the pained sadness in her chest as she unloaded her children from their car seats. Around the girls she had to be constantly monitoring her emotions. She didn't want the girls picking up on her sadness, not today of all days. They seemed no to react to her as she handed each of the twins a small plate of food they had prepared.

"I can't wait to see Stephan! He's so cute!" Lizzy said as she moved with her father and sister across the street to the small rental home of Damon's.

"Yeah, but not much fun to play with." Said Josie. "Babies are so breakable."

Alaric was carrying the two bottles of wine as he walked to the house. Caroline managed to get a hold of the lasagna and the excessively large plate of devilled eggs. It was a balancing act, but thanks to her vampire skills she easily crossed the street with the food in hand.

The door was opened by a grinning Damon.

"What are you so happy about." Caroline laughed at him.

"Just happy to still be married to the most amazing woman in the world." He yelled across the house.

"I heard that and we are still not going to Jamaica for Christmas." Elena called back.

"Well it was worth a try." He took the lasagna from her and whispered next. "Also, please don't kill me or anyone else here, there are children in the next room."

Caroline looked at him confused as he led her into the kitchen where she stopped dead in her tracks.

There sitting on a stool across the counter island was Haylee sipping a small glass of white wine and behind Elena stood Klaus unscrewing an old musty looking bottle.

"Wha- what?" She stuttered. Alaric walked to her and took the plate of food before it slipped out of her hands. Klaus turned to face her. He looked embarrassed- no nervous? Of course, he was. The last time she had been near him she had been in the midst of a panic attack and melt-down about Stefan's death. Now of all days for him to be around her, it was this day.

"Damon, can I speak to you for a moment?" Caroline said tonelessly as she gazed, stuck in Klaus's dark eyes and the hold they had over her.

"You know we were just about to open a vintage bottle Klaus brought-"

Elena cut in.

"Damon." She warned raising her eyebrows.

"Fine, lets take a walk." Damon walked Caroline into the small backyard of the house.

The yard was simple, not really big enough to walk around in, but had enough vegetation to give them something to walk around.

"I can't believe you." Caroline's shock had left her body. She only felt anger now. Anger and betrayal. "You were the last person I would expect to throw Klaus at me."

She had had it from almost everyone at one point. Alaric a few days ago. Bonnie had often asked Caroline about Klaus expectantly, as if one day she would ask "have you heard anything from Klaus?" And Caroline would respond with "Oh yeah, we actually tied the knot and will be back packing through Europe this summer. Want to meet us in Paris for a croissant?" Elena had more than once asked Caroline if she ever thought about calling, reaching out in some way. She had often encouraged Caroline to explore her feelings for the Original, but Caroline had always reiterated that there was nothing to explore. But Damon. Damon, she thought would forever hate Klaus more than she hated her feelings for the hybrid. And now here he was inviting the Originals to a dinner party with no ulterior motives then apparently-

"For you to move on!" Damon exclaimed quietly. "Stefan would have wanted you to be happy."

"Don't you dare make this about Stefan!" Caroline yelped, almost sounding as though she had been prodded with a hot iron.

"What should I make it about then, Care? About you? About how you so clearly have feelings for the man, despite everything he's done? How about we make it about how you weren't really in love until you met Klaus? Yeah you think I don't know about that? Tyler was good, yeah you loved him. But you weren't in love with him." Caroline flinched at the mention of Tyler's name. Sure, he had been a horrible boyfriend, abusive at times, but Damon had been the one to kill him, so the words seemed harsher coming from him. Even if they were true.

Damon breathed deeply trying to calm himself.

"Listen, I'm not saying you have to ride off into the sunset with the guy… but you need to try Caroline. I see it. I know you hide it well, but I can see the life draining out of you everyday." Damon put his hands on her shoulders firmly and affectionately. "I won't watch you die. I won't lose you too. And if the strange love you have for that stupid hybrid is what saves you-" he pulled her into a hug. "Then ring the wedding bells and call me the flower girl."

Caroline laughed slightly as she began to cry into her brother in laws shoulder. She didn't know what to take away from this lecture, but she knew this much. Damon saw right through her.

Klaus

When Caroline reentered the now crowded kitchen, Rebekah and Marcel had arrived filling the small-town house to the brim, he could smell the salty stained tears she had wiped away. She moved towards him sheepishly.

"Can I pour you a glass?" He offered tenderly, afraid to speak to loudly and scare her off like a bird in the early morning air.

"Yes, please." She picked up a glass from the counter and held it to him. "This doesn't mean we are friends."

She said it lowly as she looked around, as if to make sure no one was reading her lips.

"Of course, love."

He smiled at her mischievously. He had been listening to Damon's indelicate speech in the garden. Granted violent and indecorous, it seemed to have worked. He could feel her attempting to reel in the tension she had originally radiated around him. As he filled her glass, only a little due to the richness of the French wine, her sparkling blue eyes met his. She smiled letting her guard down before moving away from him to speak with Haylee and Elena about the school holding a guest lecture in weeks to come in which the Bennet witch would be speaking.

Klaus looked to Damon, who smirked at him smugly. Klaus nodded slightly in thanks the Salvatore who had just left the door to Caroline's heart ajar.

Rebekah

As the night wound down and the food disappeared Rebekah searched desperately for an opportunity to steal Caroline away. She had missed so many opportunities. Between Klaus hovering around her, waiting on her hand and foot and the twin siphons demanding their mother's attention she hadn't been able to get within two feet of her brothers chosen amour.

Finally, Caroline began to pack her car. Rebekah jumped at the chance to help her carry the many dishes she had unnecessarily brought.

"Thanks for the help." Caroline said snarkily as she shut the back door to the car. The sun had now set, and the street was lit only by street lamps. "Now what do you want?"

"Only a minute of your time, dear." Rebekah smiled at her coyly.

"If this is about Klaus-"

"Of course it is, what else would I need to speak with you about." Rebekah snapped. Caroline rolled her eyes. Rebekah had used to hate that Caroline never feared her the way everyone else did, but now it almost seemed charming. Perhaps this was why her brother had fallen for her. She held him, and his family, to the same standards as everyone else.

"I need to know Caroline… do you love my brother?" Rebekah sounded almost gentle now. She cringed as she heard herself.

Caroline uncrossed her arms suddenly looking livid.

"I swear to god if one more person tells me who I'm in love with I'm going to start snapping necks. Yes, your brother and I have history. Do I find you brother very attractive, yes, for some reason he can make the dark twisted immortal thing work for him, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with what he's done. He's mean. And he's spoiled, he thinks he can have anything he thinks is pretty that catches his eye, and don't think I haven't noticed him slipping Ric and I larger and larger donations over the years as if that's going to make his case better!" Caroline ranted on, just like Rebekah remembered she had in high school.

"So yes?" She interrupted. Caroline started to protest her eyes lit with rage. "It's okay, I won't tell anyone, I just wanted you to know that I know. I know my brother can be a lot, so if you need someone to sort him out for you… don't count me out. I want to see my brother happy too, even if that means he goes for the neurotic school teacher he's obsessed with."

She left a speechless Caroline by her black SUV, letting a smile cross her face. Perhaps she was starting to see the substance behind the bland bottle blonde her brother had fallen for. Caroline had fire, and that fire burned just as wildly as the fire in her own brother's soul. She thought he would never find a woman who could match him, but oh how content she felt at being wrong.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parent teacher conferances are torrid affairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANNNNND we're back! After almost a year of not updating, I finally found my muse again. It was the earthshattering ending Jullie wrote for the originals. Don't worry this story is here to mend our broken hearts. Are you guys watching Legacies? I can't bring myself to. Let me know what you think of the new show and this story in the comments :D I read all of them to keep me motivated!

|Caroline|  
How had she wound up in this situation? It hadn't been that long since the Originals had moved back to town. Only a month, right? So why after only being here a little over a month was Caroline in this predicament?  
Klaus would be there soon for an impromptu parent headmistress meeting due to an incident with Hope. And the incident that had resulted in another student crying and bleeding. A little boy from a coven in Northern California had confronted Hope and upsetting her. She had according to her, unintentionally thrown the boy across the playground resulting in nothing more than a scraped up wrist and hurt feelings all around. No one was hugely hurt, but Caroline's school had a strict rule of no harm, all the products in the dorms were vegan for this reason. Not to mention Klaus had a bad track record for controlling his temper. Caroline feared the lessons Hop was learning at home.  
There was a knock at her door.  
"Come in."  
Klaus walked in wearing a pair of dark pants and a grey shirt. His dark blue peed coat looked like he had been walking through the rain. Caroline turned around to look out the large window behind her. Sure enough, it looked as though rain had been falling for hours. But then Caroline had been plenty distracted with work, dealing with Hope, and then stirring anxiously about this meeting.  
"Something wrong?"  
Caroline turned back around to face the Original Hybrid.  
"No, I just didn't realize it had been raining. Please sit down," Caroline paused watching him move closer to her removing his jacket. She smelled his cologne now, just like she remembered it from all those years ago. "How long till Haylee arrives?"  
"Oh she won't be able to come, she was on a geographically problematic errand this morning when we got the call. Now, what has happened?"  
Caroline was surprised by the civility. Although Klaus had been on his best behavior. Even after her weird exchange with his sister he had been uncommonly indifferent to her. It was as if she were just some distant comrade from another life. It made focus easier, but also distracted her still in different ways. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, or maybe she wanted it to drop.  
Klaus had consumed her dreams every night since he had arrived back in Mystic Falls. Caroline wished her mother was there. She needed some sense knocked into her by the legendary Liz Forbes.  
"It seems Hope got into an argument on the playground with another student and now that student has been hurt."  
"And what did he do to make Hope feel like she needed to defend herself?"  
"Excuse me?" Caroline blinked and folded her hands on her desk leaning forward. "I just told you your daughter injured another student."  
"And I asked you what was done to her? I haven't gotten an answer, Miss Forbes."  
Caroline winced. It was Miss Forbes-Salvatore.  
"Klaus, I need you to take a step back. I know she is your daughter but there is going to need to be disciplinary action. The Salvatore boarding Academy does not allow this behavior."  
"But I see they do allow blaming the victim."  
"Klaus! Come on!" Caroline's feminist side prickled at this casted line of conflict. That was not what was happening here.  
"Did you even ask her about her side of the story?" Klaus leaned in too now.  
"Yes, she said the boy said some things about her family-"  
"Well, there you have it!"  
"The boy was also two years younger than her. All Hope has managed to do is instill fear in her peers. Klaus, we build relationships at this school. It's how these kids make it. A support system. Children and peers who understand and empathize with one another. Hope needs to understand we work together here not against one another. With you and Haylee being who she lives with and very present parents we need you on our side. The school and your family need to work together to help Hope grow as a person and a witch."  
"She's not a normal person!" Klaus snapped.  
"I never said she was, Klaus. Your daughter is extraordinary. Let me help you raise her to realize how extraordinary and good she can be."  
Klaus stared at Caroline for a moment before slumping back in his chair. He rubbed his forehead stressed, overwhelmed, angry with her?  
"We have been working on this for a while. But Caroline we have so many enemies how can I ask her not to defend herself when she is scared or upset?"  
Caroline sighed. She understood. Lizzy and Josie were so different, but both were very powerful. Trying to get them to reel in their powers felt beyond impossible. Her and Ric relied heavily on positive reinforcement and teaching empathy at home.  
"I get it," Klaus looked up at her taken aback. "Seriously Klaus I do. Teaching your kids all this stuff about right and wrong is already hard. Add in the supernatural and it's all so grey. I mean my kid's mother keeps human blood in bags in the fridge next to the juice boxes. How is that not confusing for a child?"  
Klaus laughed at this, his chuckle reminded her of when she had begged him for an emergency prom gown. He had brushed her off at first, but after enjoying her panic in the form of humor he had conceded and given Caroline her favorite dress, not counting her wedding dress of course.  
"Well, I can't say I keep my blood in the fridge, but explaining to hope why I feed and how I do my best to chose those who deserve it has been an on-going conversation."  
Caroline was puzzled. She had assumed Klaus's feeding habits hadn't changed since she last saw him.  
"I didn't know you paid attention to that kind of thing. No offense."  
"None taken, the last time we saw each other I wasn't exactly a gentleman."  
Caroline's face warmed. Had that really been the last time they had seen each other? They had talked of course before Stefan had died on the phone, and after Stefan's death, they had exchanged a few letters between donations. Caroline had sent a Christmas card his way every year and had sent a few thank you notes absent of details about her life and her family. But no… the last time she had seen him had been…  
"That day in the woods," Klaus sighed. Caroline eyed him. He wasn't teasing or flirting, so why did he bring this up? "I hope it's not inappropriate to say it's one of my happiest memories in Mystic Falls. I only wish I had taken full advantage of it."  
Caroline blushed more.  
"I think we both took full advantage."  
Where did that come from? Caroline mentally chastised herself while Klaus smiled down at his lap.  
"Well yes, but that's not what I meant."  
What! What did he mean? Why was he being so cryptic?  
"Thank you for the notes on Hope today, we will be having a discussion tonight with her. You're right. If she has any chance in this world it's going to be here at this school with you."  
The way he spoke of Caroline's involvement made her jaw tighten. It wasn't her, it was the school! But before she could correct his overly personal remark the Original Hybrid was standing.  
"I hope next time we see each other its better circumstances." Klaus bowed his head slightly at her as a sign of respect and left.  
What the hell was going on!?! Why was he being so respectful? So nice? So… not Klaus?  
How had this man changed so much? Parenthood had changed Caroline, but not this much. Caroline didn't like this new Klaus. The new Klaus wasn't giving her enough excuses to stay away.

|Klaus|  
He hated Damon's plan. Klaus had adopted the Salvatore brothers scheme only because at the moment he knew Caroline the mom more than Klaus did. Klaus had known Caroline the fiery ambitious school girl. Now the girl he knew all those years ago was refined and grown. She had strategy and aim in her drive. Where there was once a scared insecure controlling young woman, there was now an organized efficient confident headmistress. She was a goddess. Still burning bright beneath her surface, but her newfound control kept that under wraps near the children at her school. She always had been a master at self-control… except around him.  
That day in the woods had haunted Klaus since the occurrence. She was wild and strong and knew what she wanted. Not a lot of people could say that. After he had finally had her in the forest near the now boarding school, Klaus had wanted to sweep her away to New Orleans. He could have. He easily could have thrown her over his shoulder and stolen her away. Once she was there in that vibrant city she would not have ever wanted to leave. If he had been a better man at the time perhaps he would have negotiated with her. In her lust riddled state, he could have begged her to come with him, convinced her to join him in a year or as soon as she graduated from college.  
But then if she had come she wouldn't have her girls, who he could see how she wouldn't be complete without. And if the worst had happened, the hallow or some other threat they had faced may have killed her and then Klaus would be left to care for and love his daughter as a broken man.  
Leaving her office now holding hands with his red-headed daughter Klaus frowned at the civility of their parent headmistress meeting. Damon had told him to "reel it in." Klaus didn't know exactly what it was he was supposed to reel in, but he suspected it had something to do with no flirting or teasing, or tormenting, or anything else he had previously enjoyed doing to Caroline.  
"She's not some high schooler you can flirt into submission or flash your wolf puppy eyes at to get sympathy. She's got twin girls, she's practically immune to pouting now. Trust me I know."  
Damon's speech echoed in Klaus's mind.  
"Show her you're a good father. Show her you've changed, that she can trust you. She won't go near you if she thinks her kids are in danger physically or emotionally."  
Her girls. That was another thing to add onto the list of things to torment over. If it were up to her girls Klaus was screwed. The only reason Hope and he got on as wells they did was because she was very special and had a very old soul. He couldn't even begin to understand Caroline's girls who were raised part in the human world part in the supernatural.  
"What are you thinking about so hard?" Hope squeezed his big hand in hers.  
"I was just thinking about my meeting with Headmistress Caroline."  
"I didn't mean to hurt him, just push him away a little."  
"We will discuss it with your mother, Hope," Klaus said sternly.  
"Okay, but can we still go next Friday?" Hope pleaded.  
"What is next Friday?"  
"It's the girls' soccer teams first game. Josie wants me to go, she said I can play when someone needs a break."  
Klaus paused. Sometimes parenting was the most confusing thing on the planet. Caroline had said she needed discipline. But she had also said she needed to make connections with her peers. Klaus also hated crowds. He also knew he needed an in with Caroline, and what better way to do that than the soccer game her daughter was playing in and Alaric was coaching.  
"We will talk about it at home. You made a mistake today, Hope, and I'm not sure what the consequences will be just yet.  
Hopes face fell and he felt her hand and arm sag with disappointment in his grip. How had Caroline become immune to pouting? Klaus wanted to give his daughter the world right now if it would make her happy, but Haylee was always yelling at him for spoiling Hope so the world would have to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first comment I got on this story was not a positive one so if that reader or ones like that come back I would like to clarify that this story is not meant to paint Caroline as a second choice. I worship her and definitely identify with her and her struggles with worth and inner strength. I wouldn't write her that way and I'm sorry it was interpreted that way by you.  
> More importantly, this is a story about healing. Caroline is still so wounded and consumed by grief and Klaus is confused about the time jump and who he and Caroline are now as parents. This is a story of them being beaten down by life then are given this second chance with their children. And as most of us know children make a parents world swoon (for most), but they also come with an abundance of complications. For Klaus and Caroline, they need to figure out these complications with their new lives and new family members as they attempt to find their way back to one another.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alaric and Klaus bond... sort of. Caroline needs to get over the whole "Klaus was a bad guy" thing.

Chapter 10  
|Klaus|  
So here he was. An overly supportive crowd cheered for the children playing football, or as his daughter and her mother called it soccer. Klaus had honestly thought after telling Haylee about Hopes escapades that they were both grounded, she had been so upset with Hope and with him for "teaching erratic behavior."  
Alaric stood beside him, a safe five feet away, clutching a clipboard with the game schedules and players names and numbers to his chest. Klaus's number one enemy of the hour looked fucking ridiculous in that white visor with a brand checkmark on the forehead band. He might as well be wearing a fanny pack and sandals, Alaric was a picturesque middle-aged dad at the moment. Klaus cringed at the thought of reaching this point. He wore his same taste, as usual, today, dark colors and a necklace with a tooth from the first bear he and his brothers had killed when they were still human.  
It was a cold morning and you could see the human and witch breath as it was puffed out of them. He and Haylee, however, were part vampire so their breath was not nearly as noticeable usually. But this mornings air was death-like in temperature so even the hybrids' breath was strong white in the grey morning light.  
It was so cloudy today, Klaus was reminded of the fog of those winters in Paris in the late 1600s. How free he had felt hunting in that frigid fog all those years ago.  
"Let's go, Hope! Take it all the way up the field!" Haylee screeched beside him, Klaus flinched away. "What?"  
She crossed her arms looking at him now.  
"Nothing, I just did not know you were so invested in child sporting events," Klaus smirked.  
"I want our daughter to grow up with a sense of teamwork and connection, we need to support and foster her wanting to be on the team."  
"Now you sound like Caroline," Klaus found his daughter on the field, she was running and smiling. Her team didn't even have the ball. They weren't even ahead. Klaus did not understand sports aside from the purpose of winning.  
"Well, Caroline seems like the type to read parenting books for fun so I'll take that as a compliment," Haylee bent over as if to reach her upper body only into the field crossing the chalk line. "Go Hope! Go!"  
Klaus laughed and clapped as his daughter kicked the ball away from a player on the opposite side.  
"She's doing really well!" Alaric suddenly was much closer than Klaus would have liked, only a mere two and a half feet away. "Josie was so excited for Hope to play."  
"Yes well, it seems our daughters are fast friends."  
"Yep and for that and another reason we both know…" Alaric turns to face him, Klaus turned to him as well. A move of politeness, but as Klaus stood tall and strong, puffing out his chest he realized he was turning to prove something, not to hear what Alaric has to say. "We better get used to being around one another. I don't think we should start having dad conversations around a barbeque-"  
"I don't barbeque," Klaus corrected.  
"Not the point. I'm just saying we need to get along, not be friends, but civil. Enough so that…" Alaric trailed off and looked across the field. Klaus followed his eye line.  
Caroline whose tan was beginning to fade with the fall season deepening had a pale face with rosy cheeks. Her light blonde hair was down, blowing in the wind, and in the air around her hung a puff of her much less visible vampire breath. She wore a pair of tight black yoga pants and a thick baggy grey knit sweater. The sweater pooled in a scarf like fashion around her toned slender neck. Klaus remembered the few precious times she had been allowed to kiss that neck.  
He could see himself now kissing her neck sucking on her flesh eventually to feed and then when he was finished allowing her to cure her hybrid bite by sinking her teeth into his arteries.  
Haylee whooped tearing Klaus out of his fantasy. He saw his daughter running up the field with the ball to score. Klaus cheered until Hope turned to face him smiling freckles scrunching around her face.  
"You were saying," Klaus turned back to a smiling Alaric. Was he smiling at Caroline? Klaus turned to check, no he was smiling at Hope and Josie as they high-fived and hugged.  
"Right. I just want my family… to feel like they can be friends with your family."  
Was Alaric giving him his blessing? Or was he just really concerned about Hopes and Josie's friendship development?  
"Caroline-"  
"Needs to know that she's not a bad person for loving who she loves and letting go of who she needs to let go of," Alaric interrupted.  
Klaus remembered Damon speaking of Caroline's grief. Hell, Klaus had heard it from Caroline herself. He could recite the words that had defeated him as easily as he could recite "always and forever."

"When I see you, Klaus, I remember him… he's gone Klaus and he's never coming back."

With that, she had destroyed his hope to a mere ember. It fizzled and cried out for fuel to burn brighter. Then along came Damon with that phone call. And then receiving even her smallest effort to be kind and civil at the party for Damon and Elena's anniversary. Just being around her smile and hearing her and Haylee swap daughter stories had been enough to turn his ember into a raging wildfire.  
Klaus reached out and did something he did not want to do, but felt like he needed to. He shook Alaric's hand.

|Caroline|  
Watching Haylee scream positive remarks at her daughter was almost more fun than watching Josie tear up the field. But when it got right down to it watching Josie was becoming more and more difficult to give all her attention too.  
Klaus was beside Haylee half cheering half talking to Ric. What were they talking about? It looked serious. Klaus, though was taller than Ric only by an inch or so, looked as though he towered over her baby daddy. He looked disturbingly powerful besides the human figure. Caroline could feel her cold skin prickle down her spine when she thought of Klaus and his overpowering physical power. She remembered how strong he was sure, but it wasn't the day in the woods she was thinking of. She remembered that horrifying day Alaric had gagged her with a vervain rag, tied her with vervain ropes, and pinned her weak hands to a desk by stabbing them through with freshly sharpened pencils. Had that been intentional teacher irony?  
Somehow in her panic, she realized Elena was no longer behind her. No sooner had she stopped to look over her shoulder for her friend a strong warm creature swept her down a different hallway, hand over her mouth tasting salty and smelling like paint.  
"Shhhh, shhhh it's me," Never again would Caroline feel the instant cut off from adrenaline like she had when she heard Klaus's voice. She did not feel it ever with Stefan, Tyler, or even Damon's compulsion way back many lifetimes ago.  
Klaus had not only saved her, but he had also stopped her still-beating heart (a literally impossible task! How could one stop something that had already been stopped?).  
Now he stood across the small field talking with the man whose children she had raised and given birth to. And besides, that man was her other daughter. She stood beside him, but Alaric didn't seem to notice the arrival of Lizzy because he was now completely facing Klaus. They looked so concerned like what they were discussing a matter of life and death. Lizzy simply looked up from her fathers face to Klaus's. She was smiling like what was being discussed pleased her more than anything. The two men suddenly were looking her way.  
Caroline frantically scanned the field for another focus. Klaus's beautiful red-haired daughter dashed up the field with the ball and scored a goal. Caroline couldn't help the huge smile that broke upon her lips, her clasped hands came up to cover it slightly.  
The blonde vampire looked across the field again to see Klaus grinning at his daughter's victory. He then promptly turned back to face Ric. They only spoke for another minute and then shook hands. Lizzy grinned beside her father.  
What the hell were they doing over there? Planning a trip to Disney Land?

|Klaus|  
There was something to be said for now having Alaric Saltzman's blessing. Caroline couldn't use it as an excuse. It meant anything that happened between him and Caroline would not affect his daughter grades or enrollment status at the boarding school. What it unfortunately also meant was that Alaric was the tragic hero, the self-sacrificing good guy. This had been Caroline's weakness in the past, hasn't it?  
Tyler had had his tragic werewolf curse and then "suffered" being sired to Niklaus. Then there was Matt, the tragic human surrounded by the supernatural. Stefan… the once living embodiment of a tragic hero, and now he was a martyr himself forever in Caroline's heart. It was hard for Klaus to feel this contempt for one of his oldest friends. Not to mention in his own distant way had been forced to grieve the Salvatore brother. But when he had heard of the relationship he had reserved himself to wait for Caroline a little longer. Then he heard of the marriage… This he felt was betrayal. Stefan better understood what Caroline and he had had from the very first moment.  
Klus walked back into his home pealing off the coat he had worn to his daughters game. Hope and Haylee had gone back to the boarding house for orange slices or something. Klaus needed to get away. He had forgotten that Kol and his fiancé were home.  
"Brother! I didn't think you would be back so soon."  
Kol had launched Davina off of his lap across the large leather couch. His hair was ruffled and Davina scampered quickly to button up her blouse.  
"My god and you two aren't even married yet."  
Klaus walked through the living room swing his arms resentfully. This was his house after all wasn't it?  
"Well, maybe it will be out of our system after the honeymoon?" Kol suggested.  
Klaus ignored him and the shriek of embarrassment form, Davina, as he pulled the shutter doors to his art studio closed.  
The privacy spell Frey had put on his office was wearing off he could hear the muffled argument from the couple in the other room. He wasn't supposed to hear any private conversation when the doors were closed. The spell was only supposed to do this when there were enemies lurking.  
His frustration with the growing number of occupants in his house was already fading from his mind as he conjured the image for his latest work in his head.  
He began like a madman. He threw a man-sized narrow canvas on a stand. The next thing to come was the rhythmic movement of pallet knives against thick oil paint. Greys. Blues. White. Black. More grey. He began his new creation. Not only to settle his frenzy of emotion and wildness but to allow himself an escape from the mundane morning he had had. Art. Create. Stir. Satiate. He felt himself become less man and more monster as he worked his brush against the canvas.

|Caroline|  
It had been a long day. A long week actually. And another one was just about to begin. She tried to focus on the positive. Josie had had so much fun at her game. Hope was already making new friends. Klaus was backing off.  
Klaus.  
There was a surprise.  
One of the flickering moments of relief she had had was with him. Seeing him in her office, talking about right from wrong in the kid's eyes. He had known how she felt. Two monsters raising beautiful gifted powerful children. Who else could understand? Alaric was human, he never got it. She stopped trying to explain shortly after getting engaged to him all those years ago. Haylee understood too, Caroline had thought. But at the party Damon had, she saw it wasn't exactly the same. Haylee lived differently than she did. She had no shame. The only way Caroline ever felt that way was when she could control herself, control her hunger, control her strength. It was when she lost control she felt the shame. And Klaus, Caroline could see, never felt in control.  
Why did she have to understand him?  
She supposed it wasn't right for anyone to be alone in this world completely. But how could she understand and relate and empathize with a man like him? There it was again. That fear of losing control. But didn't she owe it to him and herself not to be alone? After all, no one deserved that, did they?  
Caroline reached for her phone.  
"Caroline, love. Is everything okay?"  
Klaus's voice over the line gave her solace. She hated it.

|Bonnie|  
*In late November*  
It was time to go home. Or Bonnie guessed the closest thing she had to home anymore. After Enzo had passed she had been traveling the world rescuing witches, werewolves, even some vampires and sending them to the boarding house. Once a year she returned for a lecture on magic, per Caroline's request. She would present on things she had learned on her travels, tell stories, give warnings from mistakes she had made. But there was no other place she went to every year. No other place she had people waiting for her return. She hadn't even been out to see Damon and Elena or baby Stefan.  
Now she was returning. And she was returning with more than some stories and a lesson plan. She had found a child whose entire coven had burned themselves alive to transfer their power into this little boy. He was only six months old at the time. Bonnie had carried him across Europe into Russia and back again trying to find a coven that could help raise such a powerful child, but none would take him. They called him dangerous, some even tried to kill him.  
Now Bonnie could only hope that Caroline and she could work out a way to help the baby. He was nearly one now and already Bonnie could feel his power. Caroline didn't have the resources to protect the child, or to protect her other students from him when the time came, so her best hope was severing the boy from his power source and finding a new people to spread it amongst.  
But Bonnie would need some real magic for that, coven sized magic.  
The baby cried, she hadn't even named him yet. He had no name when his coven killed themselves. He was simply a lonely powerful baby boy with not a soul in the world to love him. Bonnie thought of Enzo and how he had been orphaned.  
The bay cried as she boarded her final flight to Mystic Falls.  
"It's okay baby. You are going to love my friend Caroline, babies love her."  
The baby screamed.  
"Me too, kid. Me too."


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holly crap it's been a minute! But for Klaus and Caroline its been almost over a month of parental bonding and the slow build a very complicated, but much-needed friendship. Bonnie is arriving from her adventures with the mysterious and very powerful baby.

Chapter 11

|Rebekah|  
"I don't understand why I'm on babysitting duty?"  
"Because you love spending time with your niece!" Haylee was packing juice and snacks into Hopes Emoji Movie backpack.  
"Yes, my niece," Rebekah spat. "Not her two best buddies."  
"Josie and Lizzy practically take care of themselves. Caroline has to go to the airport to pick up Bonnie, I told her I would watch the girls. But now I have to go and talk to Alaric about Hope using magic in class when she isn't supposed to."  
"And Caroline knows I have the girls?"  
"Yes, and she swore to me if anything happened that she would drown you in vervain water."  
Rebekah rolled her eyes. She and Caroline hadn't become fast friends since their encounter earlier in the fall outside Damon's rental house. The few encounters they had had were civil. There was one time that she went looking for Nik and found Caroline and him enjoying coffee on the balcony of their home. Rebekah was quickly assured by Klaus it was a meeting about Hope, but Rebekah could see how disappointed Caroline was to leave.  
And now the two were headed to the airport together to pick up Bonnie. THIS would be the only reason she would ever watch Caroline children in a million years.

|Caroline|  
"Okay how about this one?" Caroline eyed Klaus before glancing back at the road. "Where were you when you heard Abraham Lincoln was assassinated?"  
"What is it with you and thinking I have only ever resided in the United States when we play this game?"  
"Just answer the question." Over the past month, Klaus and Caroline had made a habit of running into one another. She had joined him for coffee at his house, met with him at the library when they both had to return their various stacks of children's books (magic tree house for Lizzie, Nancy Drew for Josie, and Mystical Herbs and Their Uses in the Classic Occult for Hope). Later in the month, they had started sharing stories of their lives after Klaus had left for New Orleans, this had led to their current game of choice, and Caroline's favorite "where was Klaus when this happened?"  
"Much more interesting question?" Klaus swerved the question. "What is your current opinion on The Kardashians? I know your judgment fluctuates."  
"Current opinion? They are trash people who don't care about people, animals, or the world they live in. That being said, I still want Khloe to be my personal shopper. Now answer the question."  
Every once in a while, Caroline would unearth a date that Klaus was doing something particularly embarrassing that he had to own up to. Her favorite was the day Napoleon invaded Russia, Jun 24, 1812. Klaus had gotten drunk on the streets of London and mistook a prostitute for the virgin mother Mary and began to profess his sins to her. He then paid her for her time and passed out on a roof he didn't remember climbing up to.  
"Fine, I thought I could distract you for a little longer with that one," Caroline pushed him lightly and he laughed at her. She loved how he laughed around her. It made her feel safe, like if Klaus wasn't worried then she shouldn't be. So many years of fear and paranoia and grief and being on the defenses had made her carry her worry on her back daily.  
"I was…with him."  
"WHAT?" Caroline screamed shocked. She was half smiling half gaping. "You knew Napoleon? And you never mentioned that?"  
"Well, love, I would have but I just so enjoy hearing you talk about the Kardashians!"  
"Spill!" Caroline commanded.  
"I didn't know him to know him. He was too little and irritating to feed on and much too boring to kill. I was simply there for the ride. His original portrait of him on his horse he had commissioned me to do it, but I can't stand dictators so I destroyed it and left the regime."  
"Oh yes, the king hybrid Niklaus Michaelson who hates dictators."  
Caroline laughed, but Klaus simply looked at her.  
"Klaus I was kidding. I know you're not the same man anymore."  
The words left her before she could even think about it. She had gone to Klaus for comfort, yes she could admit that, but as a parent. She did not need to be ruining what was so very perfect where it was. Now looking at what she said she choked on her anxiety. "I mean you're a father now."  
Caroline looked ahead at the road to the airport. At least another hour of this and she had ruined it.  
"I knew what you meant Caroline," Caroline avoided Klaus's eyes. "I just have never heard you call me by my full name before. It was…"  
Caroline held her breath.  
"Strange."  
Caroline exhaled at his word choice.  
"Yeah, I guess it kinda' was."

|Klaus|  
He had been able to resurrect the car ride to its normal simplicity again. He and Caroline swapped stories of the kids like he knew she loved to do. After a while, he began to prod for stories about Josie and Lizzie as babies. Klaus had missed most of Hope's baby firsts and watching Caroline's face swell and recede with emotion helped him feel what he missed.  
When they arrived at the airport Caroline texted Bonnie they were waiting in the car outside baggage claim. Klaus wasn't sure how Bonnie would feel with him being there to take her home, but Caroline had told Bonnie on the phone that he would be there, and Bonnie had been indifferent according to her.  
"What do you think would have happened…" Caroline said suddenly, her feet were kicked up and off to the side on the dashboard, she wore a pair of dark form-fitting jeans and a pink long sleeve turtle neck. She looked very much like the girly Caroline he had first met. But her eyes had aged with new experiences and time passing. "If we had never met."  
Klaus paused.  
"I mean if we never met, but you still had Hope and I had my girls and everything was the same… but we didn't know each other, never had."  
Klaus knew what she meant. If Stefan was still dead.  
"I think I would be much worse for wear." Klaus looked out at their foggy windows to the family's packing up each other's bags. "I think you would have been fine, though Caroline. I really do. You are too strong to not be okay."  
"Oh I would be okay," Caroline said absentmindedly as she too looked out the window, she played with the ends of her hair absentmindedly. "I just would have been alone. Alone… but okay."  
Klaus wanted to kiss her. She had always been second best, the second choice. She had been cast aside by so many of her friends so many times. She had been left on her own so much. Her father. Then her mother dying. It was so much for such a young person to bear, not to mention a young person who must now live forever. Then Stefan left, she was alone again.  
Klaus wanted her to know she would never be alone, she would never have to be alone as long as he lived, which Damon had pointed out was forever. Damon had suggested that Klaus was entirely perfect for Caroline because he was the one person on this planet who could actually give Caroline a forever. Klaus doubted Damon knew how right he was. Caroline did need a forever. She deserved a forever. Forever and always.  
Caroline's phone beeped and the blonde scrambled nervously to pick it up.  
"She's here!" Caroline was up out of the car before Klaus had unbuckled.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No previews just read. kind of a boring chapter, but more exciting things are coming.

Chapter 12

| Bonnie |  
Caroline stepped out of the large vehicle parked a few yards down the pickup line. She looked exactly the same as she had in high school, age frozen in time. It was one thing to know vampires who hadn't aged in a hundred or two years, but to watch the not aging happen over the years with Caroline had been transcendent. As Elena and herself changed in small ways, not wrinkling yet, but maturing around the eyes and faces changing in small ways, not to mention Elena's body changing from being pregnant, it was strange to have one member of their trio not changing despite motherhood and years passing.  
The woman who stood before Bonnie had not aged, that was true. But she held herself differently. More confident, more mature, a grown professional woman. The sadness was still there though behind her lively eyes, it hadn't left since Stefan had died. She was a whole woman on her own but still broken.  
What she saw next shook her to her core. She knew Klaus would be accompanying Caroline to the airport, but that didn't change the fact that it was a short circuit to Bonnie's reality to see him driving four-door hybrid SUV and walking towards her beside her friend. This Klaus Mikaelson was so different than the one that had once terrorized her friends when they were kids.  
"And who is this?" Caroline hugged Bonnie as close as she could without crushing the baby she wore in a carrier on her chest. Bonnie had briefly explained over text when boarding the plane, but being on the run with a baby was way too hectic to call her friend to explain in detail.  
"How about I tell you the story on the way to the school. I want to get them and create a few extra barrier spells."  
Bonnie eyed Klaus. He still put her on edge. She would never not see him as the monster that had terrorized them all those years ago. Glowing yellow eyes. Blood running down his lips and chin. Klaus was still the thing that went bump in the night to Bonnie, she didn't care how domestic he seemed.

| Caroline |  
Driving home with Bonnie in the car was wonderful. Anytime she could spend with her friend was greatly appreciated and greatly missed. But hearing Bonnie's story of rescuing the very powerful baby in the back seat was not the weirdest part of the drive. It came after Bonnie's story and during the little boy's screech crying.  
Caroline was used to this and it brought back memories of the twins as babies. Bonnie, however, sat beside her rubbing her temples stating she was going insane from the noise. Caroline eyed Klaus in her rear-view mirror expecting a similar reaction, but instead, she found him reaching into the child's car seat in the middle of the car unstrapping the child.  
"Klaus?"  
Klaus made a hushing noise, she wasn't sure if it was directed at her, the baby, or both. Either way, he now had the crying baby in his arms and began to stroke the babies sternum gently hushing still.  
It took a few minutes but eventually, the baby was sleeping in his arms.  
"How did you do that?" Caroline asked making eye contact in the mirror.  
"It was the only thing that would calm Hope as a baby, Rebekah taught me years ago."  
Bonnie interrupted.  
"Speaking of you insane siblings, how many of you are there in Mystic Falls now and why are we okay with them being back in our town, Caroline?"  
Caroline stared at her friend in disbelief.  
"Not exactly your town anymore, love, now is it?" Klaus chimed from the back smirking. "From what Caroline tells me you can barely make it back every year for a day or two."  
Bonnie glared at Caroline now with eyes that said a little of "you told him about that" and a lot of "we will talk about this later when there's no nosey hybrid around."  
Both of which Caroline rolled her eyes at. Klaus had a point, though. Klaus and his family were making themselves at home which Caroline understood certain people being uneasy about. But Caroline had seen how the entire family had changed because of Hope, so how could she condemn Klaus for being better just because he was being better in Mystic Falls.  
Caroline met Klaus's gaze again in the mirror. His smirk was gone and in its place was a kind expression of… she wanted to say support? How was it in this short few months had her and Klaus gotten closer than her lifelong best friend? And how was it he was being more supportive than Bonnie?  
This wasn't supposed to be this way. Bonnie was supposed to be her supportive gal pal. Her women supporting women partner in crime. And yet, just as fragile as their friendship had been in high school, a stupid boy was getting in between them.

| Bonnie |  
"I just can't believe this, Care," Bonnie exasperated as she unpacked her bag in her temporary room at the school. "You're still so blind when it comes to Klaus. You still… Do you love him?"  
"No! We are just friends," Caroline defended sitting on her guest bed.  
"Okay, even that is just weird. When I left Klaus was still banned from Mystic Falls! We had a deal, it lasted years. What the hell changed?"  
"The Hallow, Bonnie. We told you all about that," Caroline looked impatient now.  
"No, I'm talking after."  
"They had nowhere else to go. New Orleans was taken over and too dangerous for Hope. First, it was just Haylee and Hope, then Klaus and his siblings were freed from the Hallow. What could we say? ‘No Hope sorry your father isn't welcome here because of all the mass murder from my high school days'?"  
"And the whole family is here because?"  
"THAT is a question for Ric, but you know what Bonnie," Caroline stood. "Klaus has been there for me since he got here in ways you and Elena haven't and God knows I don't hold that against you two. So don't hold it against me for leaning on other people who are actually here."  
Caroline walked out of the room leaving Bonnie to grind her teeth alone.

| Freya |

It was getting old fast. In their large home in New Orleans, she had had practically a whole home to herself. And even though this house in mystic falls was also very large Freya had extra roommates. Rebekah had brought Marcel, and Kol Davina. The whole house was feeling overcrowded.   
It reached a new level of unbearable when she had a very sexy very talented tinder date over one night. The next morning she was waking to the feeling of soft kisses being planted up her leg and soft hands on her hips. Macy, her date was smiling up at her just about to place her beautiful mouth on Freya's most sensitive area when a loud bang of her door being opened without warning.  
"Frey, do you know why Klaus- OH JEEZUZ! I'm so sorry!"  
Kol was scrambling to avert his eyes as she and Macy pulled up their sheets. She had yelled at him to get out, but he only left after giving her thumbs up and a very obvious wink of approval.  
After that Freya never had another date over. Then she stopped having dates all together when Caroline and Klaus had run into her and woman Caroline had been on cheer team with. This caused an awkward introduction to her brother. He sat there angrily and impatient clearly irritated to no long have Caroline to himself. Not to mention Klaus valued privacy. This meant he didn't love that Freya's date was asking about how he knew Caroline and inquiring Caroline on how her new private school venture was going.  
Freya saw as the couple walked away, that Caroline appeared to be getting after him for his attitude, but she almost instantly softened when he spoke Frey considered he might have compelled to calm down.  
Later she asked him about it and he told her, "I told Caroline I worried for Hope's safety and privacy as well as her families."  
Freya smirked at her brother in her mind. He was the fierce indestructible Niklaus Michaelson, feared Original Vampire. And yet… when he spoke of Caroline his outer shell melted. If it wasn't so strange it would have been beautiful.  
But no matter how much she loved Klaus and her whole family she couldn't live in their home anymore. She needed a place she could take the Macy's of the world and not be disturbed. Hence, he on her way to a local bar that was renting out the loft above it. Some place called the Mystic Grill she had yet to try. Space would be good for her.


End file.
